Mark, Lilo, and Stitch
by max7345
Summary: It's been two years since Mark Nissan's parents were in a tragic car accident that took their lives as well as the parents of the Pelekai sisters.  By some twist of fate, and a fire, Mark joins the Ohana and assists them in the adventure of a lifetime.
1. Chapter 1: A New Member A New Ohana

It was a usual bright and sunny day in Kauai, Hawaii. The kids were going to school, the adults were heading for work, and the alien experiments continued to appear in various areas of the island. This kind of activity was considered normal by now to most of the people in Kauai, except for a few. One in particular was target practicing with a couple of E.M.P canons on his wrists. This particular person was the most skilled human in Kauai. His name is Mark Nissan.

Despite Mark's skills, he's usually a klutz; he even tripped over a snail once. Although he has believed in extra terrestrial life for the longest time, he still has trouble getting used to the recent massive sightings in Kauai. As Mark finished his target practice, he heard a siren of a fire engine and ran to the roof of the building he was in. Mark saw a pillar of smoke coming from the place he recognized as the Pelekai residence. He recognized it as that family's home because he was a volunteer firefighter who was just at that house about a year ago when a bomb apparently went off. Upon investigating the source of the fire, Mark found what remained of some sort of high-tech weapon that was being jammed by a carrot. It was quite obvious that this weapon was the so-called bomb, because a large majority of it was missing.

The house was obviously re-built by the family because, from what Mark was told, none of the construction workers were involved in the house's new design. Mark heard the sirens as the firefighters passed by his place. Mark ran to the edge of the roof, rolled off it, and landed on top of one of the trucks. The roof was only about 3 feet above a fire truck. The loud bang on the roof of the truck startled the two men inside for a moment but they calmed down almost instantly as they knew that only one person in town was crazy enough to jump onto a moving fire truck in a public area. "Mark." They both told themselves in a deadpan voice. It was quite clear that they didn't appreciate him showing off during a time of crisis. "You guys know me so well." Mark replied in a cocky tone as the truck closed in on a bridge. Mark thought quickly and jumped onto the railing, flipped off of that, landed on the railing on the other side, and Fell onto the Fire truck as it passed under him.

One of the firefighters looked out of their window and shouted, "Knock it off Mark!! You know these trucks aren't easy to fix if you put a dent in them!"

"Oh come on, you know I do it for the people." Mark replied sarcastically as he waved at the onlookers that were on the bridge he just jumped over. "Tree." The driver warned calmly as the firefighter pulled himself back in the truck with an angry look on his face. Mark heard him and turned around just in time to get smacked in the face by a branch, giving him a black eye. Mark back flipped once and grabbed onto the fire truck's ladder. Mark spit out a tooth before shouting, "A little bit louder of a warning next time thank you!"

"Oh come on Mark, you know I do it for your discipline." Both firefighters laughed at this sarcastic comment, while Mark just scowled. It was always like this for him. Mark never meant anybody harm, and he never gave it. Heck, the only thing he ever wanted to do was save people, and Mark always lived thinking of others rather than himself, but people always seemed to dislike him in every way possible. The only ones he met who didn't dislike him were those at the CIA. Mark used to be an agent there at some point, but his skills were far too good even for them, and therefore, he was disavowed. About his original family, well...they died. Mark only had his parents, and they were life-long orphans. Mark remembers how they died very well indeed.

It was rainy and they went for a drive, completely lost traction, swerved into the oncoming lane, and crashed into another vehicle. Ironically, the vehicle that crashed into Mark's Parents' car was the very same vehicle that the Pelekai family was driving when they met their end. As their memory rushed into his mind, Mark reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a photo of a serious looking man with a green beret and a sweet-looking woman with short brown hair. Mark smiled as a good memory of his parents entered his mind. Oh how he missed having a family! His father always got after him for running amuck while his mother reminded him about how important the word "Ohana" meant.

"Ohana means family, and family means that nobody get left behind or forgotten." she would always tell him whenever he got angry at his father. Mark and his father were just about to get on good terms before he died in the car crash. Mark put the picture back in his pocket just as they arrived at the house. Mark rolled off of it and walked up to the lead firefighter there and asked, "Anyone still inside?"

"Just about every resident in the house!" The head firefighter replied. "A Nani Pelekai was in town currently and she left her sister and her dog in the house with her aunt and uncle."

"Hmm...When sis the aunt and uncle move in?"

"Mark, don't be ridiculous, focus on the situation at hand! My goodness, you didn't get the honorary firefighter award over forty times for asking questions that don't concern you!"

"Right, sorry chief. Where are they?"

"Second floor, fire is blocking the path; I told them that we'd send our best guy in."

"Hmm, then it's a good thing I came." Mark said just before he rushed into the house. "So enthusiastic, as always." The head firefighter chuckled to himself as Mark rushed into the raging inferno inside the building.

About two seconds after Mark entered; a blue Koala-like dog ran out and began looking around frantically. Mark looked around shouting the names of the residents, "Lilo!! Mrs. Pleakely! Mr. uh...Jumba! Anybody still alive?" When suddenly he heard noises coming from the second floor. Mark found the stairs and ran up them and opened the door at the end. There were three people in the room, but the smoke blocked Mark's vision to get a good look at them. "Oy, Pleakely, I think six-two-six got somebody."

"Oh thank goodness!! The little monster did save us after all!" Were the first words spoken when Mark entered the room.

"Ok...is there a Lilo in the room?" Mark asked them. "Typical." the high pitched voice of Pleakely said, "I'm right here!" a little girl shouted. The voice appeared to have come from right next to her aunt and Uncle. Mark took off his jacket, rushed up to Lilo and put it around her to keep her from breathing in any more smoke. Mark looked at Jumba and Pleakely and said, "Ok you guys, I've done this over a million times before. Just follow my lead." Mark couldn't see it, but it looked as if they nodded. "Good, and try not to breath in too much smoke." Mark headed over to the stairs when suddenly Jumba interrupted, "Excuse me, but why not just go down elevator in next room?"

"Please Mr. Jumba. I'm a professional, and the stairs are the safest way to get to the bottom floor." Mark turned back around headed to the stairs, except when he turned the stairs had been completely burned down.

Mark turned back around and said, "On second thought. Where's that elevator..."

"It is in next room to right."

"But the elevator needs to be on the second floor for us to get down and it's on the bottom." Lilo complained. Mark looked back at where the stairway used to be. It appeared that if he jumped hard enough, he could get to the elevator area. Mark turned back to Jumba, Pleakely, and Lilo and ordered, "Ok, you guys get into the room, I'll get the elevator up."

"Are you insane!?" Pleakely shrieked, "You'll be burned alive!!"

"Don't bet on it. Mark Nissan never fails."

"What?" Jumba asked. "Just get to the next room and have a little faith." Mark replied. Jumba and Pleakely looked at each other curiously before taking Lilo and heading into the next room. Mark turned back to the non-existing stairway once more and jumped on the wall to his left, and then to the wall on the right of the stairway door. Mark ran along this wall for about 5 steps, and then jumped toward a ceiling beam, swung off that and landed on one of the three support beams, the support beam broke and Mark fell down, but he rolled and stopped just at the elevator and hit the button the instant he stopped, sending it up. Pleakely, who watched the whole thing could only say, "Oh no! He broke the support beam! He broke the support beam!"

Before following Jumba and Lilo in the next room. While they were making their escape, Stitch was still running around trying to get one of the firefighters to come inside, but none of them were paying attention. Stitch was about to get help from outside when suddenly one of the firefighters shouted, "Here they come!" as Mark, Lilo, Jumba, and Pleakely made it out safely. Mark was carrying Lilo while Pleakely and Jumba followed. Stitch saw them and rushed up to Mark, jumping up and down, trying to get to Lilo.

Mark let Lilo down and Stitch hugged her for a brief moment before a nurse pulled her away and put an oxygen mask over her mouth to give her sufficient oxygen. One of the firefighters walked up to Jumba and Pleakely and asked, "You two ok?" Pleakely just said one thing, "He broke...the support beam." Just before the house came crashing down to the ground. Jumba then interfered and answered, "We're fine, we're fine." Pleakely looked at Mark and then recognized him, now that the smoke was gone. "Oh my goodness!! It's Mark Nissan! Fascinating..."

"Eh, what is so special about Mark car person?" Jumba asked Pleakely, Mark was out of earshot and was making sure Lilo was ok. "What's so special? What's so special!? He's the only one who was too good for the CIA, he can come up with flawless plans in seconds, he's highly acrobatic, he graduated through all twelve levels of Earth education in just two days, and he's got a master's degree for just about everything...except construction. Which is probably the only thing he's not too good at."

"HA!! No better than Jumba, I graduated through all 345 levels of Turo system education in just one day and have six hundred and twenty four evil experiments designed to cause destruction and mayhem running around! Mwahahaha!!! But still, is only interesting Earth civilian here I see."

"Fasi--on no…not good, not good, not good!"

"What are you worried about now?"

"Mark is too smart, even with our disguises he'll still see whatever physical appearance we have that separates us from humans."

"Ah! You are worrying too much, he didn't know we were aliens when he was inside house."

"True. And he is the best person on this planet. I mean, a little smoke shouldn't have blocked his vision that badly."

"Exactly!! Now come, let's go meet car person Mark." Jumba said before he and Pleakely walked up to Mark.

Mark looked at Jumba and Pleakely and went completely speechless. He saw right through their disguises. Heck, he was surprised that nobody else seemed to be able too as well. Mark just stared at them in pure shock and terror for a few moments before his eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted. Jumba and Pleakely stopped in their tracks. Pleakely looked at Jumba with a closed-mouthed scowl on his face. "What?" Jumba asked. "I told you he would see through our disguises. I TOLD you!!"

"Oh thank goodness there you are--What did you guys do!?" Nani asked as she arrived at the scene and saw Mark passed out in the hospital van. "He uh...knows we're from space." Pleakely broke the news. "Today of all days. WHY did you have to be saved by a smart person!?"

"Hey, don't blame us, blame six-two-six! He fetched him." Jumba defensibly said. Nani looked at Stitch and scolded him. "Naga Stitch!" The little blue alien shouted in his defense. "Well somebody got him!" Nani exclaimed.

"Well, what do we do with him now that he knows about us?" Pleakely asked. "Maybe he can join us!" Lilo suddenly suggested. Jumba was the only one who started laughing uncontrollably. Upon realizing this, he nervously slowed to a stop. Pleakely then turned to Lilo and said, "That actually sounds like a good idea. I mean, this guy doesn't even have a family of his own."

"How do you know so much about Mark car person?" Jumba asked. "Mark car person?" Lilo asked. "Mark Nissan!" Pleakely corrected. Nani and Lilo screamed excitedly upon hearing his name and then looked at Mark. Hours later, Mark woke up in a hospital, Lilo, Nani, Stitch, Pleakely, and Jumba were at his bedside.

Mark saw Jumba and Pleakely again, but he was over the shock now. It was clear that they weren't going to harm him if they haven't done it yet. "So...you know what they are now?" Nani asked Mark. Mark looked up at Nani, smirked, and replied, "They tell you that? Yeah, I do, but don't worry, I'm not going to tell anybody." They all breathed a sigh of relief at these words. Lilo walked up to Mark and Stitch climbed onto his bed. Lilo requested, "We were wondering if you wanted to join us..."

"Join you in what? Are all of you aliens?" Mark asked. "No, only Jumba, Pleakely, and him." She said as she pointed at Stitch. Mark looked at Stitch who stretched out his hand and said, "H--h--hi." Mark smirked and said, "How cute." Stitch tilted his head cutely and Mark chuckled. "We're hunting experiments." Lilo suddenly said as an answer to his first question.

Mark sat up and asked Lilo, "What kind of experiments?"

"Alien experiments, like Stitch. We find them and take them to the one true place they belong around here."

"It's bound to keep you busy for long time, there's six hundred and twenty three still out there." Jumba said as he joined in. "And it's plenty dangerous." Pleakely said as he joined in. "And unlike the CIA, you won't be too good for us. Those two need all the help they can get." Nani said as she pointed to Lilo and Stitch. "So, will you join us?" Lilo asked. Mark thought about it a while before answering, "I'll have to give it a try though won't I. You guys get one chance to impress me. And only one. If I'm satisfied, I'll join your experiment hunt."

"Got it!" Lilo said excitedly and she and Mark shook hands. Stitch walked up to Mark's knees and gave him a cute stare. Mark saw this and began stroking Stitch's head. Stitch actually purred and nudged against Mark's hand, clearly showing that he liked it. A few hours later, two men were relaxing on the beach near a palm tree. One of them reached into a cooler, pulled out a soda drenched in water and said, "Oh man, the ice is already melting!" But his friend didn't seem to mind and offered to take the soda. He tossed it to him. As his friend opened the can a small, blue, ping-pong like ball with the number five one three on it fell out of the palm tree and landed into the cooler.

A flash of blue light startled to two men as a purple creature with a leaf-like tail suddenly appeared in their cooler and with one swing of his tail, broke their cooler, knocked them back, and caused what could possibly be a 5.0 on the Richter scale. The creature laughed at the destruction and mayhem it caused as people ran around screaming, rocks broke in half, faults were created, and a sunburned man's ice cream fell off his cone. Meanwhile, at a spaceship near a waterfall, a yellow experiment who was surrounded by some of the biggest sandwiches most people have ever seen, was spreading jam on a piece of bread while watching the news. "Geologists are still looking into the unusual quake centered at Lihue beach today that rocked the island this morning." was all that the television said before a deep voice suddenly shouted, "Six-two-five, turn that thing off!" The voice was coming from a tall shark-like alien who was messing with the wiring.

"I'm trying to get this communication relay back online, and you're not helping!" The shark with legs shouted. "Aww, what's the matter? Can't handle plugging in wires by yourself?" The yellow alien sarcastically replied. "At least I'll be ready in case of a sandwich shortage." he continued. "Shortage?" The sharkish alien questioned. At this point the yellow alien did a series of beeping noises that sounded like a news-breaker jingle as if to taunt the sharkish alien's level of intelligence before replying, "News flash from the crab nebula, space whale. There was a quake today. I'm not taking chances, I'm stocking up." Suddenly, a new voice shouted in the room. "Gantu?! You land-locked cetacean, why have you not reported?" A gerbil-like alien shouted at the sharkish alien from a television screen. Gantu just looked away for a moment and muttered, "I hate my life." before turning to the gerbil, Dr. Hamsterviel, and explaining that the communication relay was down.

"I pay you for results and all you do is disappoint! If you do not bring me an experiment soon, I will abuse you physically as well as verbally!" He threatened Gantu. "Understood sir." Was all that Gantu replied with. And then yet another voice was brought into the room, this time, it was a computer. "Experiment five-one-three activated. Primary function: Geological disruption." Gantu walked over to the computer and said, "Ah, a quake-making experiment." His boss simply said, "Excellent, bring it to me at once!" before the screen turned off. Gantu turned around and reached for a utility belt but it appeared that all it held were sandwiches. Gantu growled in frustration, changed his mind about the belt, and continued on leaving.

While at Lilo's newly built house, Jumba, Stitch, Lilo, and Mark were sitting on the living room couch while Pleakely was marching around explaining the quake as if he were a teacher, "I've called you all together for an earthquake readiness meeting. Now, planetary shaking is measured on what's called a 'Richter scale'. Today's quake was a 5.0, completely moderate and perfectly normal. But a good reminder to us all: Be prepared and do not panic, repeat, DO NOT PANIC!" Jumba suddenly interrupted, "I'm thinking you are panicking."

"Indeed." Mark agreed in a board tone.

"Me? Of course not! This planet is composed with a system of geological faults and plates that are in a constant flux which can lead to mass destruction!" Pleakely shouted before the Earth on the television screen suddenly blew up. This freaked Pleakely out and he began running around screaming, "What are we doing? We should all be panicking!" As Pleakely continued freaking out, Stitch jumped up, crawled along the wall to a potted plant, picked it up with his feet, and threw the water on Pleakely who suddenly calmed down and said, "Thanks, a face full of cold bonded hydrogen and oxygen always calms my nerves." At this point Mark interrupted, "Why didn't you just say water?" Pleakely just stared at him for a while before continuing, "Now where was I?"

"You were just telling us to no panic when you started panicking." Lilo answered calmly. "Oh right." Pleakely chuckled nervously before continuing, "I just wanted to make sure you're all prepared. That's why I put together these special earthquake kits. My research shows that these contain the items one needs in case of a quake." Pleakely then began pulling out certain objects and listing them while Mark put them in simple terms, "Dehydrated Protein supplements."

"Dehydrated meals."

"Re-hydration container."

"Water bottle."

"Handheld incadesant illuminator."

"Flashlight."

"Are you finished?"

"Are you?"

"No, with my outside expert experience, I've added a few items of my own: Anti-shaking belly buffer."

"Pillow."

"Stop it!"

The others appeared to be enjoying this, especially Jumba. There was a short pause before Pleakely continued, "Metallic cranial protector."

"Frying pan." At this point, Pleakely looked annoyed, but ignored Mark and continued, "Braided fiber quadruped restraint."

"Rope."

"Modulated frequency receiver."

"Radio."

"Emergency ouch reducer."

"First aid kit."

"And plenty of banded cloth adhesive to keep loose items in place."

"Bandages." Mark finished. Pleakely just glared at Mark and asked, "Are you going to be this difficult all the time?"

"That depends if you're going to keep throwing a bunch of random words together to form sentences that hardly anybody will understand."

There was a knock at the door and a man's voice called for Nani. Lilo rushed up to the door and opened it. "Hey Lilo, your sister home?"

"Yeah, but I don't think she's feeling too well, she said something about having a bit zit."

"Lilo!" Nani shouted as she walked in the room. She approached the door and continued, "No, I'm fine."

"Then what were you popping when--" Nani covered Lilo's mouth but was only slightly effective as Lilo then licked her sister's arm, grossing her out and forcing her to let go. Nani quickly rubbed the saliva off, chuckled nervously and commented, "What a darling."

"Yeah...OH! Mr. Wong wants you down at the rental hut."

"What? I'm not due in today."

"I know, but that quake today was centered near the beach...it did some damage." Nani groaned but Lilo was excited to show Mark what they do and ran up to him. "We're about to go down to Nani's job down at the rental hut, want to come? If we're lucky, we'll run into an experiment."

"Yeah, sure. It's better than being stuck here with nothing to do but watch Pleakely panic over nothing." Pleakely glared at Mark as he finished his sentence. "Ok...then let's go on down to the rental hut!"

"Wait a minute, I never agreed to--" Nani began but was interrupted as Lilo dragged Mark out of the house and Stitch swiftly followed. A while later, they were at the rental hut, and boy...was it a mess. Everything was thrown everywhere.

The only thing that appeared to have not received any damage at all was a shake machine near the front counter. "I need you to put everything back on the shelves. Luckily, the new shake machine wasn't damaged, it's the only thing around here that makes us any money." Mr. Wong said as he began polishing the shake machine. "Mr. Wong, it's my day off." Nani complained. "Not anymore." Mark sarcastically replied. Nani glared at him and Mark explained, "Sorry, I only get like this when I'm bored to tears." Nani turned back to Mr. Wong as he asked, "Hey, you like your job, right?"

"I'm...all about surf shop rentalling."

"Good. I'll be back later to see how you are doing." Mr. Wong said as he left the hut. Lilo began walking around and said, "It looks like the hut threw up." Mark saw the opportunity and replied, "That's putting it mildly."

"Lilo, you, and Stitch clean over on that side, David and I will start over here, and Mark...keep an eye on Stitch." Nani ordered. Stitch began helping by putting up an oxygen tank, but the second he did, it hissed loudly as it let out some air. This shocked the little blue alien for a moment and then made him curious. He touched it again and then it was all a blur after that, but he ended up accidentally breaking the shake machine. "Well...that's not good." Said Mark who was laying on the floor covering his head. He got back up just as Nani noticed the damage. "Oh no! Not the shake machine! Mr. Wong is going to explode!" At this moment Stitch picked up the orange ball and jumped on the counter. Ironically, Mark jumped on the counter as well. Both Mark and Stitch then kicked the shake machine to make its top half connect to its bottom half. Stitch then placed the orange ball on top of it. Then both Mark and Stitch just threw their hands in the air at the same time. "There, good as new!" Mark said just as Stitch said, "Takida!" However, they both knew the reality of it as the orange ball fell off of the machine and their hands dropped to their sides.

"That's it! You three are going home where you won't get me into any more trouble!" Nani shouted as she pushed Lilo, Stitch, and Mark out of the hut. "...Why am I out here?" Mark wondered. Lilo shrugged and then Stitch tried to eat the orange ball. Lilo pulled it away from him just in time and said, "No Stitch! You gotta learn to be more careful, you can't just break things all the time." She gave it back and continued, "If you like something, you gotta take care of it. Otherwise you won't have it anymore." Upon hearing these words, Stitch nudged against the orange ball and purred. Suddenly Gantu's voice was heard over a hill where they were at. They approached it and peered over the hill and got a good look at Gantu who was talking to two humans. "Excuse me Earth forms, have you seen any unusual creatures after today's quake?"

"Just you." One of them said. "Why are you so big?" Said the other. "I'm from the eighth planet in the Kreplot system where--I mean...I'm from Samoa."

"Well, alright. Now we know." Lilo crawled back behind the hill and said, "He must be looking for an experiment!" Mark was completely baffled, turned to Lilo and asked, "Who's the walking shark? Kind of thick-headed for someone from space."

"His name's Gantu, but we all call him dummy head." Lilo explained. "Sounds appropriate." Mark replied. Lilo turned to Stitch and continued, "I wonder if the experiment has anything to do with the new earthquake."

"Hey now, that'd be something. It'd be the first interesting thing that's happened since I gave this whole thing a try." Mark commented. It was clear that they weren't meeting his expectations so far. Back at the house, Jumba was searching his database for the experiment that causes earthquakes while Mark and Lilo watched and Stitch was playing with his orange ball. "Ah yes, that would be experiment five-one-three. Is earthquake maker."

"It just shakes things?" Lilo asked. "Just Shaking?" Jumba questioned as he laughed and then continued, "Little girl is not understanding, five-one-three--" Jumba began, but was interrupted by Mark, who was scanning the computer and reading the devastating effects that five-one-three could cause, however, the text was in extra terrestrial writing, "Is programmed to find the weakest point on the island to cause one huge earthquake. Seriously, it's going to be huge, the Richter scale wouldn't even be able to measure this kind of earthquake. What happened earlier today was just a little taste. This is awesome!"

"No it's not, this is terrible!" Lilo corrected. "Of course it's terrible, the entire island could split in half. But man! I can't wait to see this thing in action!" Jumba, Lilo and Stitch were just staring at Mark. "...What? Nobody's usually ever excited to see these things in action?"

"No...not really." Lilo replied. "Most Likely five-one-three will head for big fault at base of volcano. It is imperative that--" Jumba began but was interrupted by Mark again, "We don't let it go underground right?"

"...Right. You are very intelligent for Earth being." Jumba complimented. "Is there any way to stop it?" Lilo asked. "These Cartridges will help to capture experiment." Jumba answered as he held up some sort of green goo in a plastic packaging. "Is filled with very sticky substance to hold five one three." When Jumba finished his sentence he looked back at Mark. "What?" Mark asked when he saw this. "You did not interrupt Jumba. I was kind of expecting it." Jumba answered. "Well, I just thought that you should have this one." Mark replied. Mark didn't want to share the fact that he had no idea what the purpose for the substance was before Jumba explained. Stitch reached into the bag of cartridges and pulled out the gun for them. He back flipped and tested its aim just before Pleakely came in and shouted, "Hold on! Nobody's going anywhere. Not without their Earthquake kits."

"Yeah, earthquake kits, right." A mesmerized Mark said as he stared at the computer screen and continued examining five-one-three's abilities.

Pleakely just stared at Mark before he slammed a bucket on Jumba's head and continued, "Come on Jumba, time for another Earthquake drill."

"Eh, no more with the drilling." A desperate Jumba whined. Pleakely ran over to the bed and demonstrated as he said, "Now remember, Duck, cover, and scream, AHHH!!" This caught Mark's attention, but it wasn't a good type of attention. Mark looked at Pleakely in a repulsed way as he continued demonstrating the coward's way of handling an earthquake. "Sometime I feel really embarrassed for him." Lilo commented. "Yeah, I'm glad I don't have to do that." Mark agreed before looking at Jumba. "Uh...well, we better go, come on Lilo." Mark nervously continued before leaving the area, Lilo and Stitch trailing behind.

A short while later, they managed to find five-one-three as he crawled out from a bush, seeming pleased with himself as he laughed. "Come on, let's get him sticky!" Lilo eagerly suggested. Mark, Lilo, and Stitch then cut the experiment off as Lilo yelled, "Hold it right there shaky guy!" Stitch pointed the sticky gun at five-one-three, who slammed his tail on the ground, creating yet another earthquake. Lilo and Stitch lost their balance on the shaking ground, but Mark managed to keep his. "Amazing!" Mark said with awe in his voice. Mark pulled out a camera and shouted, "Show me that again, that was so awesome!" Five-one-three did as Mark requested and Mark took pictures of the experiment in action. "Is this really necessary?" Lilo asked Mark as he finished his snapshots of the experiment. "Why yes, yes it is." As they were talking, Gantu suddenly appeared, grabbed Stitch and threw him into a palm tree. Stitched bounced around between two palm trees that were very close together for a while before falling down to the ground and getting bombarded with coconuts. "Is he going to be alright?" A concerned Mark asked Lilo.

"Oh for crying out loud, the trog is indestructible! He'll be fine!" An annoyed Gantu answered before asking Lilo, "Hey, who's the new guy? How come I'm not lucky enough to get a new guy?" As Gantu asked this, five-one-three saw the opportunity to escape into a hole in the volcano. Lilo, Stitch, and Mark quickly followed it and tried to stop it but were too late. "Jumba said not to let him get underground didn't he?"

"Malaqueesta." Stitch complained just as Mark said, "This isn't good." A loud crash was heard and rocks began to slide down the volcano. "We have to go after him!" A determined Lilo suggested. Stitch growled and pointed behind them. Gantu was making his way up the volcano. Stitch and Mark ran up to him. Stitch reached for his sticky gun but it wasn't there. "Oh, did you drop your little blaster?" Gantu asked in a mocking tone before pulling his own out and continuing, "Well I didn't!" Stitch growled. But Mark decided to take action and said, "Not today, dummy head!" Before Jumping on Gantu's Blaster, flipping over his head and biting him on the fin. "OW!! Blitsnak!!!" Gantu shouted as he completely lost focus on everything else except getting Mark off his fin.

Lilo made her way down the volcano, grabbed Stitch's sticky gun and tossed it to him. Mark flipped off of Gantu and pointed one of his EMP cannons at him, Gantu was about to shoot Mark with his blaster when Mark suddenly disabled Gantu's gun with his. "Oh...Blitsnak!" Gantu said again as he looked at his disabled Blaster. Stitch caught his sticky gun and shot Gantu, covering him in the sticky green substance. Gantu struggled with it as Lilo caught up with them. "It's sticky!" Gantu shouted as he tried to break free. Mark saw the opportunity and pushed Gantu down the volcano with one finger. As Gantu rolled down the volcano, he shouted, "I hate sticky!" Stitch put the sticky gun in Lilo's backpack and all three of them headed into the volcano. "Can it be any darker in here?" Lilo asked just before another rock slide blocked their entrance. "Great." Lilo said sarcastically. Stitch closed his eyes while Mark reached into his torso pocket, pulled out a pair of shades, and put them on.

Stitch opened his eyes, which were now glowing green while Mark flicked the right lens frame, activating the night vision specialty of his shades. Stitch and Mark looked around and spotted five-one-three on one of the walls. As the experiment lifted his tail, Mark reluctantly said, "Oh no...That's not good...the batteries on this thing are dying." As he pulled off his shades and looked at them. The experiment completed its attempt to cause yet another quake as it slammed its tail on the wall. Lilo and Stitch fell again, while Mark remained standing. "How do you do that?" Lilo asked. "What, stand? It's easy." Mark answered. Lilo pulled out her flashlight and shined it on the experiment. "There he is!" She shouted. Stitch fired a few rounds of a few rounds of his sticky gun, trailing the experiment, but missing all shots. "And there he goes." Lilo said as he went around a corner. Stitch followed. Five-one-three climbed down from the wall, thinking he was safe when Stitch suddenly attacked him by surprise from above.

After a short struggle, Stitch went flying out of the volcano as the experiment threw him off his head, followed by Lilo who was also thrown out by the experiment. Stitch caught Lilo. Mark, however, climbed out. As he reached the ground, he said to Lilo, "You know, you could have climbed out the whole time if you wanted to." Lilo glared at Mark before turning back to the volcano just as another earthquake blocked their new entrance. "That could have gone better." Lilo commented. "Yeah, I agree. We should have had a truck with a giant drill on the top of it." Mark replied. Lilo and Stitch looked at him as if he had just said the smartest thing in the world since they met him. "What? It's not like I don't think up genius plans every day." Mark said before Stitch remembered his orange ball and checked Lilo's backpack for it. Stitch pulled it out, nudged it a bit, put it back and said, "Ih!" A while later, they were back at Lilo's house and Jumba was working on the truck with a giant drill that Mark suggested.

Jumba slid out from under the truck and complimented Mark on the intelligence of the idea. Lilo, who was inside the truck with Stitch pulled on the lever that activated the drill. "Cool, I feel like a giant dentist. Let's go Stitch...Stitch?" Stitch was too busy playing with his ball to listen. Jumba snatched the ball away and asked, "six-two-six, what are you playing with? Huh, looks like citrus orb." Stitch snatched the ball back as Mark said, "Why do you guys always do that? Why don't you just call it an orange!? I give up." Jumba ignored Mark's question. Lilo explained to Jumba, "He doesn't like people touching his orange ball, he's learning how to take care of things." Suddenly, another quake was emitted, freaking Pleakely out as he ran to the truck screaming, "More shaking! Not good! We need another quake drill! Duck, cover, and AHHH! Duck, cover, and AHH!" Lilo, Stitch, and Mark just stared at him as he ran away from the truck. "Rock 'N Hula!" Lilo said as she put on her seatbelt, "Akuta!" Stitch shouted as he put on his, "Let's do this then!" Mark joined in as he hopped on the roof of the truck.

A confused Lilo looked out and asked, "Aren't you coming inside the truck?"

"No, it's a two passenger only vehicle. I'll be fine up here, I always am." Mark answered. Lilo and Stitch shrugged and Stitch put it into gear and drove off. Back at the volcano, Gantu finally managed to break free from the sticky substance that Stitch covered him in. His blaster was also functioning normally again. "At last!" The big shark said victoriously as he threw it off of him. As he stood up, he felt a heavy weight on his back, reached behind him, and pulled out a large capsule filled with sandwiches. "What in the horse head nebula? Sandwiches?!" Gantu groaned as he opened the capsule, emptied it, and put it back on his back. Suddenly, he felt something in his shirt, pulled it open, reached down there, and pulled out another sandwich. "Six-two-five, I'm gonna--!" Gantu began, but stopped short as he smelled the sandwich and continued, "Toasted bacon and raisin? Just like mum used to make."

Before taking a bite out of it and continued walking toward the volcano. Splat was the next sound hear as Gantu stepped onto the sticky substance he had just thrown off of himself. "Oh blitsnak!" The clumsy alien shouted as he tried to break himself free but was flung away from the volcano by the sticky substance and hit a tree. Lilo, Stitch, and Mark arrived back at the volcano and drove up the steep wall in their new vehicle. The suddenly stopped as Lilo said, "Ok, the earth is a decayed molar and we're the dentists. Let's drill!" Stitch acted on command, drilled straight through the rock, and drove through, leaving a gaping hole in the volcano's wall. Gantu walked back up, apparently exhausted but determined as he panted the whole way. As he saw the hole his rivals left behind, he couldn't help but laugh and say to himself, "This is going to be easy." Inside the Volcano, the trio were looking for five-one-three.

Lilo was shining her flashlight on the ceiling as she looked for the experiment as she said, "He's gotta be around here somewhere." Stitch suddenly pointed forward and shouted "Icha!" Just as Mark pointed forward and shouted, "That way!"

"Follow the cracks and the shaking!" Lilo ordered. "Oh, brilliant plan. How did you ever come up with that one?" Mark replied sarcastically. Lilo gave Mark a hidden glare as he couldn't see it where he was at. Lilo spotted the experiment, pointed to it and shouted, "Up there!" Stitch and Mark looked up where Lilo was shining her flashlight and saw five-one-three slam his tail on the ceiling, causing another cave in. Stitch began driving again for Mark's safety and veered into a tunnel, the experiment followed. Five-one three jumped off of the ceiling and knocked Mark off the roof of the truck as he landed on it. Mark landed on the hood and Stitch hit the brakes.

"Hey!" Mark said before he pointed to the roof of the truck and continued, "He took my seat." Just before the experiment looked through the truck's front window and growled. Five-one-three reached inside Stitch's side of the truck, grabbed his orange ball, and then hopped on top of the drill, which was now turned off. Stitch went after him with the sticky gun, but five-one-three swung his tail to keep Stitch away and knocked the gun out of his hand. He then jumped off of the drill, curled up into a ball, and rolled around a corner very swiftly with the ball in his possession. Stitch jumped after him. Five-one-three rolled through a wall and caused another cave-in, this time, weakening the floor that the truck was on. Mark noticed this as the truck began to tilt and reached inside to save Lilo. Stitch was then trying to make a decision to save Mark and Lilo or go after his precious ball. Mark's reach just wasn't long enough, so he tried climbing even further to Lilo and continued to reach for her, but then the ground gave way and Lilo fell with the truck and Mark.

Mark grabbed the ledge of the ground rock and could only watch as Lilo continued to fall, it pained him that he couldn't reach her in time. Stitch then made his decision to save Lilo and jumped after her, caught the truck and made his way back to the original level of ground he was just on. Mark was impressed with Stitch's strength but more glad that the little blue alien was able to save Lilo. Mark pulled himself up just as Stitch tossed the truck in the air, flipped back onto the surface, caught it again and set it down. "Nice catch!" Lilo commented as Stitch hopped in and buckled his seatbelt. "Indeed, that was impressive." Mark commented before hopping on the roof of the truck again and turning his attention to Lilo as he asked, "Why didn't you tell me he was so strong?"

"Because I knew you would find out sooner or later." Lilo answered. Stitch drove after the experiment, who continued down the tunnel he created and blocked the other end of it by causing another cave-in.

Stitch drilled through the rocks and cornered the experiment, who cowered against a wall as the drill came dangerously near him. The drill shut down before Lilo poked her head out and said to the experiment, "You need a time-out mister!"

"Yeah, what she said." Mark agreed. Stitch left the vehicle and grabbed the orange ball that was in five-one-three's mouth and tried to pull it away from him, saying, "Mine...grrr, mine!" When suddenly, out of nowhere, Gantu grabbed Stitch by the scruff, said, "No, mine." Before throwing Stitch off over the ledge and forcing the experiment in his capsule. Mark went after Stitch while Lilo went up to Gantu and began kicking the back of his leg with very little effect while demanding, "Give him back you big dummy!" Mark looked over the ledge and saw that Stitch had landed on another surface just below it.

"You earth forms are so pathetic." Gantu said to Lilo. Mark stood up, turned to Gantu and said, "I'll show you pathetic!" Before stomping his foot on the ground just as Stitch punched the wall, making it look like Mark was as strong as Stitch, but revealing the truth when Stitch climbed back to the surface behind Mark and trying to free the experiment which fell out of Gantu's grip when Stitch punched the wall. Gantu quickly recovered from his little stumble and pointed his plasma gun at Stitch, who put his hands up as Gantu shouted, "Enough!" Gantu said this so fast, he bit his tongue. Gantu picked up the capsule, throwing Stitch over the ledge again, and shot the controls of the truck and said, "This should keep you off my tail." Gantu then made his escape via grapple hook. Mark looked at Lilo and asked, "Well...now what? The dummy head took Stitch's ball and the experiment."

"We escape and take the experiment back, that's what." Lilo answered just before heading over to the truck, checking out the controls and making the comment, "Looks like when Pleakely tried to light the barbeque." Suddenly, the cavern started to cave in once more, and Stitch moved the truck to a safer location, or so he thought. The ceiling began to collapse, dropping very large rocks toward them. Lilo remembered Pleakely's drill and followed the procedures while Stitch jumped on top of the truck and broke all of the large rocks, with one punch each. "Pleakely's right, it works." Lilo commented when it was over, before looking back at the controls and continued, "This, on the other hand, is toast." Another quake worried Stitch, but Mark kept his cool and arrived just as Stitch reached into the controls, pulled out the right wires and said, "Canjijiba! Zizz zizz!" and accidentally electrocuted himself.

Mark calmly took the wires, plugged them in the correct way and fixed the vehicle instantly. Stitch shook Mark's hand, accidentally shocking him with the static that still remained in him from the recent electrocution and said, "Mahalo!"

"Ow!! Not a problem." Mark replied before hopping on top of the truck as Stitch drove away. At a gas station, a man was just finished with filling his car with fuel when suddenly, Stitch drilled out of the ground and made his way to the surface while Mark held onto the top of the truck. Stitch looked at the man, waved at him and said, "H--h--hi."

"Ugh." The man said in disgust as he saw Stitch before continuing, "These tourists get uglier every year." and drove away as Mark shook his fist in the air and shouted, "He's not ugly!"

Jumba and Pleakely walked out of the gas station after Mark shouted this. Pleakely was holding bags of supplies while Jumba was just reading a newspaper. Jumba stopped when he spotted Mark, Lilo, and Stitch, causing Pleakely to bump into him and fall to the floor, dropping the bags. "Mark, six-two-six and little girl!" Jumba greeted. Mark, Lilo and Stitch left the Truck, and ran up to Jumba and Pleakely. "What are you guys doing here?" Lilo asked them. "Isn't it obvious?" Mark asked before continuing, "They're here because Pleakely dragged Jumba out of the house to pick up more useless quake supplies that would never actually help anybody during an earthquake." All was silent as Mark's long sentence processed through their minds. "Oh, that makes sense." Lilo suddenly replied when she thought about it. Pleakely then argued, "It's not useless." Before holding up a toy windmill and saying, "Aren't these fascinating? Personal wind-powered generator!" Mark was about to make yet another sarcastic remark about it when Jumba suddenly interrupted and asked, "Where is experiment five-one-three?"

"Gantu got him." Lilo regrettably answered. Stitch then began whining and crying about his orange ball that he no longer had. Mark noticed this and stroked Stitch's head in an attempt to make him feel better. Stitch purred and nudged against Marks hand like he did the first time Mark did this, but it didn't make him feel any better about his ball. "And what is wrong with six-two-six?" Jumba asked. "He's sad because five-one-three took his orange ball." Lilo answered. "Is just citrus orb." Jumba explained before continuing, "Why to make with the salt-water eyes?"

"Stitch is learning how to take care of things." Lilo explained again as she continued, "And the ball was his." Mark stopped stroking Stitch's head, but his hand still rested upon it as Stitch said, "Ih."

"Aww, he's just got a case of the grumpies." Pleakely replied before doing some ridiculous baby-talk to Stitch as his toy windmill got closer to him. "Uh Pleakely, I don't think that's a good--" Mark began before Stitch bit off the top of the windmill and spit it out. "Idea." Mark finished as he resumed stroking Stitch's head, encouraging more nudging and purring from him. "Hey! That was a specialized piece of quake radius equipment!" Pleakely scolded. "Somehow, I seriously doubt that." Mark replied sarcastically before another earthquake happened, causing Jumba and Pleakely to fall to the ground. "I thought you were saying five-one-three was captured." Jumba reminded. "Yeah." Lilo agreed in a sad tone. "Then why is Earth still shaking? Is very curious." Jumba pulled out a strange looking PDA while Mark thought about it. "Ohh! Is very bad!" Jumba began but Mark intervened and stole Jumba's moment again as he said, "He must have started a chain reaction of quakes with all of the cave-ins he was causing down there." More shaking was made, harder this time as the ground below them began to crack and even Mark started to lose his balance. "Ok, this is serious. The strongest quake I can handle without losing my balance is a 9.0!" Mark said as the current quake stopped and he regained his balance. "We are going to be bifurcated!" Jumba said suddenly. "Oh goody!" Pleakely said cluelessly.

"No, is bad!" Jumba and Mark corrected Pleakely at the same time. Mark let Jumba continue, "Because if we do not stop cracking, planet will split in two!"

"...And I thought the island splitting in half was bad enough." Mark replied in a worried tone. "What do we do?" Lilo asked. "Pack bags for leaving!" Jumba answered before turning to Pleakely and demanding, "And don't forget my slippers this time!"

"No packing! Saving planet." Lilo replied as Stitch went to go get some wet concrete. "Hmm...a billion-to-one chance but...another crack in ground at exact right angle to first crack might be blocking bifurcation and stopping chain reaction. But how?" Jumba said as a demonstration of the positive effect was played back on his PDA. "Five-one-three!" Mark and Stitch suggested at the same time.

"Another quake...that's it!" Lilo agreed. "It's worth a try." Jumba said before Pleakely managed to hide in the bucket on his head and asked, "You want to make another quake...on purpose? Are you mad!?"

"Do you REALLY want that answered?" Mark asked Pleakely. "No, please don't answer that." Pleakely replied. "We gotta hurry and find Gantu's ship!" Lilo suggested as she and Stitch walked away. "This whole time, I thought you knew where it was." Mark replied as he followed them. Back at Gantu's ship, Gantu was having a rough time with the experiment. "You will get transported to Hamsterviel and you will like it!" Gantu shouted before trapping the experiment in the transportation chamber. "Have an unpleasant trip." Gantu said as he walked over to the controls and attempted to start the transport but another quake caused him to accidentally start the auto-cleaning system, spraying his face with non-acidic sterilization.

"Chubi Chiba!" Stitch shouted just as Mark shouted, "Hold it right there!" Gantu turned around and realized it was his rivals. "You!" He shouted just before Stitch jumped on his face, causing Gantu to lose his balance and fall into a hidden stash of sandwiches. Lilo ran up to the controls while Mark ran up to Stitch and Gantu. Lilo pushed the wrong buttons and accidentally started the molecular transport. "Uh-oh." She said before calling to Stitch for help. Gantu got up and grabbed Stitch, who bit his hand. "Ow, that can't be sanitary!" Gantu said as he dropped the little blue alien. Gantu pointed his blaster at Mark and fired, but Mark caught the plasma substance with his hand, but was careful to keep it on the gloved part. "Oh Blitsnak." Gantu said as he saw this. "Yeah." Mark replied as he tossed the plasma stuff in his hand, "Every thread of clothing I'm wearing is heat resistant and flame proof. I made it for my firefighting days." Mark threw the plasmas tuff at Gantu, knocking him down. As Gantu got back up, he said to Mark, "I've never known the word abomination until now. You're worse than the trog!"

"Why thank you. However, I..." Mark began as he kicked Gantu in the knee with enough force to hurt him, causing Gantu to hold his knee and began bouncing on one foot. "...beg..." Mark continued as he swept under Gantu's foot and tripped him. "To differ." Mark finished as Stitch caught Gantu and threw him into the transportation chamber, freeing five-one-three and sending Gantu to Hamsterviel. Six-two-five walked into the room his hands full of sandwiches and said in disgust, "Oh great, company. I'll go make some more." Before heading back into the kitchen. Another quake reminded Stitch of his cousin. "Relax! I took care of it." Lilo comforted Stitch as she was standing next to a tied up yet smiling five-one-three.

She put the toy windmill right next to him as a finishing touch and said, "Perfect. This kit does come in handy." Lilo picked up the orange ball and handed it to Stitch who took it and nudged it and said, "Da-boochibu!" A while later, Mark, Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakely were all gathered around a fault line. "Maybe we should play safe and abandon globe altogether." Jumba suggested. "Yeah, I'm getting hoarse from all of this dropping and screaming." Pleakely replied. "Then stop dropping and screaming then, and maybe your throat will feel better." Mark replied to Pleakely sarcastically. Pleakely just glared at Mark again as Lilo replied to Jumba, "But it's our planet, he's just gotta fix it! If the world is destroyed there'll be nothing left to care about, not even for him." As she turned to five-one-three, who turned away and shouted, "Shibito!"

"Igata!" Stitch barked at him angrily. More rumbling worried Stitch even more and once again, Stitch found himself making the choice about whether or not to give up his precious ball in order to save the planet. Finally, he came to a decision. "If you do that." He began as he pointed to the fault. "Bebu." He finished as he pointed to the ball. "Ah, six-two-six has offered deal. If five-one-three can prove he can take care of things by fixing crack in planet, Stitch will give him precious citrus ball." Jumba explained. "Stitch's language is very efficient." Pleakely replied before another huge earthquake was caused, making them all lose their balance. Five-one-three thought about it in a very short amount of time before saying, "Ih!"

"He'll do it!" Lilo said triumphantly. "I am warning you, five-one-three can be very sneaky. I am not trusting him." Jumba protested. "His name is Richter." Lilo corrected. "Hey, that's pretty catchy." Mark commented. "Mahalo." Lilo replied before continuing to Jumba, "You've got to have a little faith in people Jumba. Sometimes they'll surprise you."

"Do we really want to qualify this as a person?" Mark sarcastically replied. Everybody except Stitch glared at Mark then. "Right...I'll stop talking now." Mark replied as he saw their glares. Lilo and Stitch put the capsule that Richter was being contained in near the fault line and opened it up. Richter hopped in and did his thing. It was successful, and timed just right as the two cracks collided and ended the Earth's devastation. "HAHA!! Look, five-one-three is saving Earth globe!" Jumba said with triumph.

"But what about Richter?" A worried Lilo questioned. Stitch listened very carefully for any sign of Richter and went over to a collapsed hole in the ground. Stitch laughed excitedly, dug underground, and pushed Richter out. Lilo hugged Richter and said, "Thanks Richter. You rock!" Stitch arrived and pulled out his orange ball and hesitated for a bit, but then smiled and gave it to Richter, who gratefully accepted it. "I totally know the one place you belong!" A happy Lilo said. "As do I." Mark replied. Lilo and Mark both looked at each other and nodded. Back at the rental hut, a very long line was made as a sign the read "Quake Shakes" was planted in front of it. Inside the rental hut, Richter, Lilo, Stitch, and Nani were making milk shakes. Richter was replacing the broken shake Machine that Stitch broke earlier. Mark was watching. When the line was gone, he walked up to Nani and asked, "Hey, earlier, why did you push me out?"

"Because you didn't stop Stitch from breaking the only thing that got us any money." Nani answered simply. "But Nani," Mark began, "I have a master's degree in almost everything. This includes electronics and repair. And since I'm now a part of your Ohana, I could have fixed that machine within minutes and completely free of charge." Nani just stared at him with her mouth open and then fainted at her own cluelessness. "Um...Nani?" A concerned Mark asked his now foster sister as he looked down at her. A while later, back at the house, Mark was walking in when the Family was standing in the living room, right in front of the door. "We've got some things to talk about." An upset Pleakely told Mark. Mark sat down on the couch and looked at them.

"Well, let's start then." He said seriously. "Well, Mark, according to what you told Nani earlier, it appears that you have accepted our offer." Pleakely began. "Okay." Mark replied. "But the way you've been acting today. With all of your sarcasm and rudeness. We don't accept yours." Mark was speechless as his mouth opened slightly. "Now, I know this is bad for you, without having any family and all. But the truth of it is, you're really not famil-"

"Wait." Stitch interrupted. The little blue alien knew how Mark felt right now. He had felt a similar pain about a year ago. "No family...doesn't know how to behave properly." Stitch continued, "Just like Stitch." Everybody widened their eyes at these words and they looked at each other in realization. He was right. In many aspects, Mark really was just like Stitch. "Stitch changed. Mark can change." The alien said in defense to their new member. "He's right." Lilo agreed, "Mark can change for the better if we give him time to."

"Probability is highly unlikely, but it was not my idea to reject Mark car person." Jumba replied. "Mark Nissan!" Everybody corrected. It was clear that they had just changed their minds about kicking Mark to the curb. And for his last minute rescue, Mark stroked Stitch's head again, causing Stitch to nudge and purr even more. "Welcome to the Ohana Mark." Lilo pleasantly greeted as she prepared for a group shot with their new family member, Mark Nissan. After the picture was taken, Mark asked, "So, how many more experiments are out there?"

"Oh, about six hundred and twenty five." Jumba answered, Mark's jaw dropped as he couldn't help but wonder what on earth he just got himself into.


	2. Chapter 2: The Place Where he Belongs

It was 5 A.M. when somebody was walking around in the Pelekai residence. The human figure was not sneaking, but rather walking as if he had lived there. In the pitch black darkness, the man could hardly see, he flicked on the light to find himself in the kitchen. "Oy…who on Earth could possibly be up at this hour?" Jumba asked from upstairs the second the kitchen light turned on. This in itself was odd enough as the kitchen light didn't even reach any of the upstairs rooms.

The others were complaining about the same thing as well, and soon, Lilo, Stitch, Nani, Pleakley, and Jumba were all at the kitchen entrance as they spotted the culprit, Mark Nissan, the new addition to their family since last week. Mark had a strange way about him, he always helped out others before helping himself, but he was usually sarcastic and rude to all but one, Stitch. Mark had a slightly muscular build about him for a teenager; he usually wore a long tan jacket, dark green shirt, navy blue fingerless gloves, jean pants, and black shoes. This time, however, Mark was wearing light blue PJs with little patterns of Stitch on them. His hair and eyes remained the same as usual however; his hair brown and combed to the right, and his eyes were also brown.

"Mark…why on Earth are you up now? Do you have any idea what time it is?" a tired Nani asked. "Um…5 A.M." Mark answered before he continued, "I always get up this early."

"Excuse me?" an astonished Pleakley interrupted. "Yeah…I suppose that it's really not common knowledge, but this is usually the time when I get up."

"Then what about the other six days when you've been with us and have woken up later than us?" Lilo asked. Mark just looked at her with one eyebrow raised when Jumba suddenly grabbed his arm and started testing out the cloth of his PJs and said, "Where did you get this? So soft and comfortable."

"Hey, hey, hey! Hands off, this took me a long time to make!" Mark scolded as he pulled his arm out of Jumba's grip. Stitch suddenly complained, "Stitch sleepy." As he rubbed one of his eyes.

"I am agreeing with six-two-six." Jumba replied before turning to Mark and continuing, "Why must you wake us up so early?"

"Well, if you're all still tired, maybe you should all go back to bed." Mark suggested. The others just stood there for a while before Jumba broke the silence, "That sounds like good idea. Goodnight." turned away, and walked back to his room. Everyone else said goodnight once more and went to their rooms as well.

Mark continued over to the fridge once they were all back in bed and pulled out a carton of milk. Mark just started to drink it from the carton when he suddenly spit out the contents in the sink. "Ugh!! What the!!" Mark shouted after expelling the taste of spoiled milk from his mouth. He could hear Jumba laughing as he said this. Jumba's voice then replied, "Check bottom."

Mark did as Jumba told him. On the bottom was a note that read, "Don't drink from the carton next time -Nani." Mark stared at the note and said, "I should have seen that coming." before throwing the carton of expired milk away and heading back to his room. After changing into his usual outfit, Mark went outside and began to take a walk. "Well, they know how to enforce their rules. I'll give them that." Mark muttered to himself as he continued his walk.

A few hours later, at a stage, Dr. Gladys Okra was about to get on stage as a celebrity guest. "Today's speaker has helped thousands of people through her syndicated TV and radio shows and is the best selling author of _I'm Peachy, You're Peachy_." The host began. Gladys was watching him from backstage, waiting for her cue when her assistant came along with a bottle of water on a plate. Gladys turned and bumped into him, causing the bottle to fly in the air and pop open as it hit the floor. "Oh, I'm so sorry doctor!" The assistant hastily apologized and went to get a mop. The water leaked out, fell off stage and went over to a yellow ping-pong-like ball on the ground.

Upon touching the ball, it began to glow and grow. The next thing you know, it was replaced by a blue, mutated porcupine. The Porcupine made its way one the stage as Gladys turned around to see it. It made its way over to her, but then her assistant came back and tried to shoo it away with the mop he went to get. In anger, the porcupine flung its tail and sent a few of its spines flying. Gladys had turned around in fear and the spikes ended up piercing her rear end.

"Ow!" She shouted as she turned around and asked, "What IS that thing? A Mutant porcupine or…or…" She stopped as she suddenly began looking less and less intelligent. He eyes became crossed and her tongue hung out of her mouth stupidly. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the second smartest person in the world when compared to Mark Nissan, Gladys Okra!" The host introduced. Gladys walked on stage in a very goofy way and said, "Duh…" Then she began doing this weird dance and singing nonsense words. "She doesn't sound nearly as smart as she does on TV." A member of the audience commented. After a while, it showed that her assistant had also been affected by the porcupine as he walked on stage and began honking her nose. They danced off stage together. Suddenly, the porcupine rolled on stage and fired its spikes at the audience as it uncurled itself. Frightened, the entire audience got up and ran for it while the porcupine began laughing evilly at the mayhem it had caused.

Meanwhile, at Lilo's school, her hula teacher, Moses, was dismissing his class; Mark remained hidden on top of the canopy. "Good work today class," he began. "But before you go, I have a reminder. Tomorrow is the Ohanarama trivia championship. And this year we have an outstanding grand prize."

"Oh goody." Myrtle interrupted. "**I** get a prize."

"And what makes you think your family's gonna win Myrtle?" Lilo asked. "Because we always win. And because your only hope is not even allowed to participate in the event." Myrtle answered. She was obviously referring to Mark. He excelled at almost everything, and for that he was also excluded from certain activities. "It's a brand new computer." Moses continued. As soon as he finished this sentence, the canopy suddenly broke and Mark fell right behind Lilo's teacher.

The girls shrieked in excitement while Stitch went to see if Mark was ok. Mark sat up and began massaging his back as Stitch walked up to him. "You ok?" Stitch asked. "I'm fine Stitch, thanks." Mark replied. Mark wondered if they were excited about the computer or his drop-in. Upon realizing that Lilo had joined in, he figured that it must have been about the computer. Mark stood up, turned to Moses, and said, "Yeah…I think you might need a new canopy."

"Yes…I do. What did I tell you about coming near this place Mark?" Mark sighed sadly and answered, "Not to break anything else or you're going to get a restraining order."

"No, that's for coming near my house."

"Oh, right. Unless I have a good reason. I was just waiting for Lilo to finish school to take her home."

"Lucky for you, that's a good enough reason for me. There's nothing better than looking out for your O'hana." He turned his attention back to his students and continued, "Brush up on your trivia." With that, he walked away and Mark joined Lilo and Stitch. "But you already have a computer." Lilo pointed out to Myrtle. "Three actually, that's why I'm a child prodigy." At these words, Mark scoffed. He knew what it was like being a child prodigy, and he didn't have it as made as Myrtle did. "I bet Lilo's not smart enough to even have a computer." One of her friends blurted out. "I have advanced alien technology computers, and then there's my foster brother and my dog. They know molecular physics." At these words, Mark and Stitch nodded at each other and Mark went into the tree area of the school while Stitch went inside the school to get the record player. Mark and Stitch arrived at the same time. Mark had a DNA model made completely out of pine trees and coconuts. Stitch brought the record player.

Mark set the model on the record player and Lilo pushed the play button, causing the DNA model to rotate. Stitch barked cutely as they finished. "I always knew you were dense Lilo, but I didn't know you could be outsmarted by a dog."

"Yeahhhh." Myrtle's posse agreed. Lilo glared at them. "But I know one thing for sure, if your family, Mark excluded, is half as thick as you are, you don't stand a chance at the Ohanarama." Myrtle finished harshly before walking away with her posse. "Man…If I knew you had to deal with her every day, I would have gone easier on you with the sarcasm." Mark pointed out. Lilo stomped away and Mark and Stitch went after her. Stitch held a doll in one hand and a needle in the other and said, "Gadjanafee!" as he held the needle up in a poking position to the doll. It was obvious that he was suggesting voodoo. "No Stitch." Lilo said as she took the doll away. "We're going to need more than a voodoo doll to beat Myrtle. Her family does always win…somehow."

Back at the house, Pleakley was walking up the stairs to Jumba's room and asked, "Jumba, have you seen the colander?" He entered the room and something Jumba was working on had caught his eye. The colander he was looking for was a part of it. "Hey! That better be an electric spaghetti strainer or we're having soggy pasta."

"Is not for cooking." Jumba explained, "Is eviliminator. New genius way for turning experiments from bad to good." He pulled out an experiment that looked like a red chipmunk and continued, "I'm testing on one-one-zero, designed to annoy enemies with non-stop talking."

Jumba opened the capsule and the experiment's voice was suddenly heard. It was a cute, high pitched voice; the kind of voice you'd expect from somebody or something that talks very much, very fast. Jumba dumped the experiment into the light of the new device and put on two goggles, one for two eyes each. The experiment continued to talk, asking Jumba to go for ice cream later and then he started listing the flavors he liked. Jumba pulled out a remote and pushed the button. The only thing that happened after that was an explosion. The experiment just stood there, slightly scorched, and with a metal band of what remained of the colander around his forehead. Then it coughed and, happily, continued listing the flavors it liked. "Stop talking!" Pleakley suddenly shouted, but the experiment continued. Jumba reached behind him, picked up the experiment capsule, and put it over one-one-zero, completely muting his voice, although he was still, visibly, talking.

"Eh, perhaps polarity needs minor adjustamentation." Jumba explained as he took his goggles off, showing that his eyes were the only part of his face that wasn't covered in ash. "Has it ever occurred to you that there might be a better way to turn evil experiments to good, huh?" Pleakley asked Jumba in a slightly snobby tone. "I am thinking you have been around Mark car person too long." Jumba said before he began wiping the ash off of his face and continued, "Better than un-tested hazardous technology? Impossible! No such thing exists." Pleakley appeared to have been upset about Jumba's answer and replied, "Well Mr. I'm-such-a-super-genius-I-think-I-know-everything-and-never-give-my-roommate-any-credit-even-when-he's-right-especialy-about-wearing-white-after-labor-day" Pleakley began. Jumba just shrugged and Pleakley continued, "I've been watching Dr. Okra on TV and have learned how earthlings deal with their emotional problems. It's fascinating! First they all sit in a circle, and then, uh, hugging, crying, oh, and throwing chairs!"

"Evil genius Jumba is intrigued." Jumba commented. Lilo then called out, "Jumba, Pleakley, get your hat and wig! We need to go to the museum to brush up on our trivia."

"Lilo…we just got here." Mark whined. "You don't have to come, Mark. It's not like you're going to be allowed to enter anyway." Lilo explained, but then thought about it and continued in a teasing tone, "But if we run into an experiment, you're going to miss out on catching it." Mark groaned and agreed to go with them.

At the Museum, Lilo ran up the steps as Mark, Jumba, Pleakley, and Stitch lined up and said in a motivating way, "Gentlemen, you are the finest minds on the planet, and together, you're going to whup Myrtle Edmunds in the Ohanarama tomorrow." Then she turned her attention to Mark and reminded him, "Except you, because it's considered cheating to have you join. No hard feelings."

"None taken." Mark replied. "The Owhattawhoda?" Pleakley asked Lilo. "The Ohanarama." Lilo repeated before explaining, "It's a contest, kind of like a game show."

"Hey, if fun inane contest is not until tomorrow, why are we not relaxationing at home with frosty beverage?" Jumba complained. "Practice." Lilo explained before poking Jumba with the eraser side of a pencil and continuing, "Trivia contests mean that you have to know about every fact about anything that ever happened anywhere." At this point Stitch, who was running up the stairs and sliding down the rail as Lilo and Jumba were talking, slid right into a garbage can. "Ow…Ooh! Free soda!" He cutely said from inside the garbage bin. "How come you're not on the team with us?" Pleakley asked Lilo. "Well, I'm just a dopey little earthling." Lilo explained. Mark scoffed and turned away from Lilo, clearly insulted that she would consider her own species 'dopey'. Everybody looked at Mark as he did this and knew exactly why he did. "Anyway, we need alien geniuses on our team."

"Heh! Then why is Pleakley here?" Jumba asked. "Hey!" Pleakley shouted in an insulted tone as he followed Lilo. "Ha, ha. Kidding." Jumba assured him as he went in after Pleakely. Mark followed them and Stitch was last. He was drinking a soda and then tossed it in the air and began eating it. The straw stuck cutely out of his mouth. Once inside the museum, Stitch was rapidly scanning the information panels, learning loads of information in mere seconds. Jumba was at the aquarium looking at a pleco, which was attached to the side of the aquarium glass. As he pondered at the sight of the fish, he commented, "Is reminding me of ex-wife…before facelift."

"It's called a plecostomus, also known as a pleco or plec." Mark informed. "Really? Even I have never heard of plecostomus. What does it do?" Jumba asked. "It's inhaling as much algae as it can. That's what it eats. I like to call it the janitor fish, because it keeps the tank clean by eating the algae."

"Is interesting!" Jumba replied as his attention turned back to the pleco as Mark left him and went over to Pleakley, who was checking out the souvenir clothing.

"Wash with like colors only." Pleakley read aloud as he looked at the tag of a green shirt. "Their sure to ask that question!" Pleakley said excitedly. "Yeah right." Mark interrupted. "If they actually do, I'll cross-dress for two days." He continued. "And **what**, may I ask, is wrong with that?" Pleakely asked. Mark sighed, shook his head, and said, "Never mind. There's no way they're going to ask such an absurd question. Not in our lifetime."

"Oh yeah, and how would **you** know that?"

"Because, useless trivia doesn't go **that** far."

"Oh yeah? Well, we'll see about that. I accept your wager! If they don't ask that question, I'll wear men's cloths for two days!"

"Trust me, Pleakley, that'd be an improvement." Pleakley turned away from Mark in anger. Suddenly, people started screaming and running around in a panic as the blue porcupine stood in the doorway.

"Experiment three-one-nine, run!" Jumba shouted before he took cover in an exit location of a children's play area. The children evacuated immediately. Mark rushed over and began taking photos as he commented, "This is amazing! Jumba, you have really outdone yourself with this one!" Lilo and Stitch were hiding behind a pillar. "Stitch, that's one of your cousins!" Lilo reminded the little blue alien. Stitch began to climb up the pillar and made his way to the dinosaur fossil. Three-one-nine spotted Pleakley, who was trying to sneak away while covering his identity with his shopping bag. The experiment snarled at

Pleakley, who knew his cover was blown and ran around in a confusing manner before taking refuge at Jumba's rear. The experiment threw his spines at Mark, but they missed him completely and went for Jumba and Pleakley. Pleakley moved out of the way just in time as the spines pierced Jumba's backside. Angry that he missed one, the experiment fired again, but only one this time. Mark caught it at the last moment before it had a chance to have an effect on him. "Hmm…this looks interesting, it's going to take me a while to re-make this venom." Mark commented as he examined the tip closely. "Mark! Now would be a good time to use Richter's main power!" Lilo suggested. "Well, why didn't you say so before?" Mark asked before he closed his eyes in a calm focus. Just as he did this, a strange beeping sound was heard and a chrome tail that was in the exact shape as Richter's emerged from underneath Mark's jacket. With no hesitation, Mark slammed the tail to the ground, causing three-one-nine to go off balance, and giving Stitch enough time to capture him with the fossil's rib bones.

Stitch jumped next to the experiment and bowed. As he did this, the experiment swung his tail at Stitch's backside and pierced it. "Ow!" Stitch yelled as he clamped his rear in pain. The experiment laughed at what he had now done to Stitch. "Way to go Mark and Stitch!" Lilo commented on them both, but then knew that something was wrong. "Stitch, what's wrong?" She asked him, but all the little blue alien could say was, "Blah…" as his tongue now hung out of his mouth in a very cute, yet stupid, way.

Once back at the house, Pleakley went to work on Jumba. "Now this might pinch a little." Pleakley warned as he began removing the spikes from Jumba's rear. The spikes were all bent out of shape and took a while to get out. The last one, however, was in the shape of a corkscrew and took a while longer than the others to pluck out. "Please try to be more cushy with the tushy!" Jumba told Pleakley when he was finished. "Well, it's your own fault. Mr. evil-experiment-maker." Pleakely scolded as he put a very large band-aid on Jumba's backside. "Wow. That's a huge bandage." Mark and Lilo both commented as Stitch bounced into the room. "Ooh! Is going to be long time before sitting on evil genius keister." Jumba said as he was rubbing his bottom to ease the pain.

"Jumba, why weren't you affected by Spike?" Lilo asked him as she was fighting to get a broom out of Stitch's mouth. "Spike?" Pleakley asked in surprise. "Experiment three-one-nine." Lilo explained before continuing, "I'm calling him Spike." The experiment just looked away, a scowl on his face. He clearly did not enjoy being captured. "Name is all too appropriate. But to answer question: Even Jumba's superior bottom is not immune to spiky spikes." Jumba commented. "Then how come you're not acting dopey like Stitch?" Lilo asked as she pointed at the little blue alien, who was singing while standing on his head near a window with one of the curtains over him.

Jumba explained that Spike was designed to make normally intelligent populations 99 more goofy and only 1 clever and then explained that Jumba was clever enough to the point where only 1 of his cleverness would still be more than enough. While he was doing this, Stitch was being goofy and started playing with the curtain; wrapping it around his head like little red riding hood and then spinning around. Stitch then went over to the mirror, saw his reflection, extended his arm and said, "H—hi!" Stitch then lifted the mirror to see more of his double but, of course, nothing was there but a turquoise wall. Frustrated, Stitch flung the mirror down, but it just spun continuously and kept hitting the back of his head. Mark went over and stopped it and then set Stitch on the ground.

"Oh brother. Tell me this is only temporary." Lilo said in a miserable tone as a dazed Stitch stumbled backwards between her and Jumba. "In forty-eight hours, six-two-six will be back to having brain like supercomputer. Until then, you will have to settle for brain of chicken salad." Jumba laughed at this but Mark elbowed him in the stomach and then Jumba reminded himself that he shouldn't laugh at something like that. "But the Ohanarama is tomorrow! And we need three people to play. Not to mention that we have somebody who's too smart and famous for his own good." Lilo reminded him. Mark looked down in sadness, he knew Lilo didn't mean any offense, but she didn't have to keep reminding him all the time that he wasn't allowed in the Ohanarama.

"Then little girl must compete." Jumba simply suggested, ignoring Mark's sudden change to sadness. "I can't play against Myrtle. I'd just mess everything up." Lilo said, but then she had an idea, around the same time Mark opened his eyes in an idea strike too. Lilo went over to the computer and Mark asked her, "Planning on re-teaching Stitch?"

"Yeah. How'd you know? Did I just come up with a good idea?" Lilo answered before she suddenly questioned herself. "Six-two-six does have accelerated memory rebooting capabilities." Jumba explained, clearly showing his agreement with the idea. "Good enough for us." Mark said excitedly. "Come on Stitch." Lilo called, but he didn't come.

"Stitch!" She scolded as she saw that he was sucking on the top of the experiment capsule; Spike looked surprised. Lilo walked out and dragged Stitch with her, Mark followed. "So what do we do with this guy?" Pleakley asked Jumba as he examined Spike. "Just give me few minutes to recalibrate eviliminator." Jumba said as he grabbed onto a colander and two crane-ish clamps. "Oh now you don't!" Pleakley said as he moved in front of the experiment in his defense. "But little girl and Mark car person are busy un-unsmartifying six-two-six. How is three-one-nine supposed to be converted to good?" Jumba asked. "I'll use the Dr. Okra method." Pleakley suggested. Spike glared at Pleakley while he looked back at Spike in kindness.

A little while later, Pleakley was in the living room with the experiments: Splodyhead, Slush, Nosy, Fibber, and Spike. Mark, for some reason, was also there. As they were all gathered around, Pleakley began the meeting, "It looks like we're all here, so let's begin. Using my extensive Earth expertise, I've adapted Dr. Okra's theories into my very own seminar entitled Evil Attitude Re-modification and Wayward Anger Extraction. Or as I like to call it, 'E.A.R.W.A.X'!" Mark raised an eyebrow while Nosy suddenly looked interested in something. Pleakley continued, "We'll begin with level one: Sharing." Pleakley then announced that Fibber was there to let them know when they don't tell the truth and warned them to speak openly and honestly.

"Does anyone have anything they'd like to share with the group?" Pleakley asked, hoping to get an answer. Nosy suddenly raised his hand and said, "Well, I have something but uh--"

"Oh no, no please, go on Nosy, you'll feel much better if you get it off your chest."

"Ok." Nosy got up, pointed at Pleakley's antenna and said, "His antenna thing, it isn't really green." Everyone gasped except Mark, who looked on in amusement, paying very close attention. Pleakley bit his lip nervously.

"Wait a minute, you--" Pleakley began, but Nosy continued on, "Nope! It's prematurely orange, but he dyes it green at night so no one will notice."

"So **that's** why my green dye keeps disappearing! I was wondering why I had to continue making a fresh batch every day." Mark replied, and then he thought about something and asked, "Why am I here? I'm neither evil nor angry." Pleakley looked at Fibber, expecting him to buzz, but he didn't. Pleakley looked back at Mark and said, "You may go."

Mark got up and left the house. Pleakley turned to Nosy and asked, "Why does he even have green dye, let alone make it?"

"Green is his favorite color, and even I have no idea what the dye is for…" Nosy answered; he looked somewhat puzzled as he finished the last sentence. Pleakley paused for a moment and said, "Ok little monsters, moving on. We'll just skip to level 5: Aromatherapy." As he finished that last sentence, he held up a large fish. While Pleakley was explaining how Aromatherapy worked, Slush made a snowball and threw it at him. Pleakley saw it, screamed, and moved out of the way just in time, but then the snowball hit Splodyhead, angering him, causing the snowball to melt as he got heated up.

Splodyhead fired at Slush, who made a baseball bat out of ice and hit the fireball right at Spike's containment capsule. Spike was now free, angry, and slightly charred. The experiments all ran at each other, but Pleakley stopped them and shouted, "No, no, no! Senseless violence won't lead to hugging and crying, you're doing it all wrong!" Suddenly, a table came flying at him, Pleakley screamed and dodged the table quite quickly. "Who threw that?" Pleakley asked before continuing, "That is supposed to be a chair." Suddenly, a pillow came flying and this time, Pleakley was hit and the experiments all ganged up on him. Fibber just sat on the couch, looking on and smiling innocently.

Meanwhile, outside of the house, Lilo and Stitch were outside, Mark soon joined them. "Ok Stitch, prepare for the ultimate cram session." Lilo said to the goofy little blue alien before lifting up a picture of a chicken. Stitch looked at the picture and said stupidly, "Buggy!" Lilo raised an eyebrow before lifting up another picture, this time one of broccoli. "Cowboy!" Stitch replied in his goofy voice once again. Lilo gave Stitch a pathetic look before lifting up the last picture, this one was a hot dog. "…Pleakley!" Stitch replied before grabbing the picture, eating it, and clapping his hands like a seal. Mark smacked his forehead at Stitch's lack of knowledge and frowned.

Lilo then wrote a math problem on a chalk board and showed it to Stitch. Stitch grabbed the chalk board, stared at it for a while, liked the problem off, took the chalk, ate it, and then handed to board back to Lilo. Lilo then copied Mark as she smacked her forehead and frowned. A while later Mark and Lilo were trying to teach Stitch about where the cities were, using a globe. While they were doing this, Stitch suddenly spun the globe around, jumped on top of it, and was thrown off by the momentum of the globe's spin. Mark, somehow, knew this was going to happen and caught Stitch before he hit the ground. Stitch looked up and licked Mark's chin.

A while later, Lilo drew a picture of George Washington. Shortly after showing it to Stitch, the little blue alien walked up to it, took it off the easel, folded it into a hat, took a feather out of nowhere, put the feather in the brim of the hat and put it on his head. Stitch's tongue stuck out cutely as he did this. Mark stared blankly while Lilo just rolled her eyes. "You know…that's actually kind of cute." Mark commented. Lilo looked at Mark in a confused way as he said this.

Back in the house, the experiments were fighting each other and nearly destroyed the entire living room. Spike began chasing Nosy and threw his spines at him. But Nosy jumped behind an overturned couch just in time; Pleakley and Fibber were already hiding behind it. "Whoo! I should be taking notes, this is great stuff!" Nosy said enthusiastically. Suddenly, Slush came from behind and Nosy ran in fear while Pleakley covered his head with a couch pillow. Slush froze the pillow and Pleakley suddenly lost it. "That's it!!" Pleakley shouted as he sprung up from behind the couch. "Dr. Okra says we should be hugging and crying, we're gonna hug and cry!"

Spike heard Pleakley's outburst and started to approach him. "Me and my big mouth." Pleakley said regrettably. Pleakley jumped from behind the couch and ran into another room. A few crashes were heard before Pleakley came out is some sort of knight outfit he just threw on. Everybody looked shocked and repulsed at what he was wearing. "I don't think you're evil, I think you're special. You just need a big hug." Pleakley said as he approached Spike, who backed away in fear.

Spike squirmed in order to get free once Pleakley got a hold of him, but he soon stopped, sniffled, and returned Pleakley's hug and began to cry. "Aww." The experiments said in compassion. Splodyhead and Slush began to hug each other, creating steam from their temperature opposite bodies. Nosy was trying not to cry as he said, "I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry." But Fibber buzzed and Nosy cried, blew his nose, and said in a shocked tone, "This is so beautiful."

Back outside, Lilo had an idea that Mark disagreed with, but they tried it anyway. "I heard on TV that listening to Mozart makes you smart. If that's true then listening to Elvis will make you super smart." Lilo said to Stitch as she put a pair of headphones on him and began playing the Elvis CD. "This won't work." Mark warned, but Lilo ignored him. Stitch reacted to the music and Lilo said triumphantly, "You recognize him don't you? It's working, it's working! Take that Mark Nissan!" Mark raised an eyebrow and said "Three…two…one."

As soon as he finished the sentence, Stitch stopped the music, took out the CD and looked at his reflection for a while before putting the CD on his nose and jumping of the ledge of the hill. Mark who was relaxing near the edge, caught Stitch by the scruff before he fell any further. Lilo sighed sadly and said, "I give up. Stitch is just as big a dodo-head as I am. Myrtle's going to win the Ohanarama for sure."

The next night, Lilo, Stitch, Spike, Jumba, and Pleakley were at the Ohanarama. Mark stayed home and watched it on TV since he wasn't allowed to attend. Myrtle's family was already prepared and relaxed about the competition, except for Myrtle herself, who was being her usual self and had that angry look on her face. "Will this take much longer, uh, Myrna? I've got a 5:00 Yoga class tomorrow morning." Myrtle's aunt asked her.

Myrtle pointed to her aunt and replied harshly, "Focus Aunt Stacy, just remember to let **me** answer all the questions." before looking at Lilo and sticking her tongue out at her. "I wish we had someone smarter than me playing." Lilo said sadly as she turned away from Myrtle's taunt. "Don't you fret." Pleakley replied to Lilo in an encouraging tone before continuing, "I stayed up all night studying the difference between 'Argyle' and 'Gargoyle'." Lilo looked down as Pleakley finished his sentence and sadly commented, "We're doomed."

Moses walked up to the podium and said to the crowd, "Ok, we're down the final round in this year's Ohanarama." He then turned to Lilo and said, "Lilo, you won the coin toss so the first question for your Ohana goes to you. True or false: there is firm evidence of aliens from other planets visiting Earth." Lilo gasped happily and said, "True!" Yaarp, who was the scorekeeper for the event, immediately turned over Lilo's Ohana's score pad showing that she had won ten points for answering correctly.

However, Moses had a different idea as he said disappointingly, "I'm sorry, that's incorrect." Yaarp looked appalled at Moses, seeing as Yaarp was an alien himself, but he changed the score anyway. "Edmunds?" Moses asked. "False! Only Wierdlo's lame enough to believe in aliens." Yaarp, regrettably, gave Myrtle her score and honked in a scoffing manner as he did so.

A few minutes Later, Myrtle was beating Lilo by one hundred sixty to ten. "Ok, the next question is for Lilo's uncle Jumba. At opposition, how far is Jupiter from the Earth: six million, sixty million, or six hundred million kilometers?" Moses asked him. Jumba, in his usual self, was too smart for his own good and explained the complications of space distance and some sort of fold in the solar system before answering, "Fourteen feet." Jumba, of course, got it wrong.

"Myrtle's Ohana?" Moses asked. They were all huddled together and Myrtle kept telling her aunt that she was wrong and then answered, "six hundred million kilometers."

"That's correct." Moses replied. Jumba was outraged as he shouted, "What?! You dare question my genius?! I, who have invented edible hair?" As he said that last part, he took his wig off from under his hat and showed it to Moses. "Forget it uncle Jumba, we'll get the next one." Lilo said reassuringly. Jumba began eating his wig in fury. "Uh, maybe this would be a good time to take a break." Moses suddenly said.

Lilo left the stage and went over to Stitch, who was sitting on his head in a chair, and Spike, who was curled up under the chair, and said disappointedly, "I can't believe it. This is the worst day of my entire life." The instant she said that last sentence, Spike dashed from under the chair and offered a hug to Lilo. He had grown quite fond of them ever since Pleakley hugged him. "Thanks, but no thanks Spike." Lilo politely declined. "It's ok Lilo, he's turned good, thanks to E.A.R.W.A.X." Pleakley assured her. "I know." Lilo replied before continuing, "But one stray quill and he could make me even unsmarter than I already am."

Lilo suddenly got an idea and said, "Hey, I know. Spike, why don't you give Myrtle a big sloppy hug?"

"Now Lilo, I'm no expert on Earth ethics—well, actually I am—and that would be cheating." Pleakley scolded. Lilo sighed sadly and said, "You're right. If we're going to beat the Edmunds, we've got to do it fair and square. Right Stitch?" Stitch was trying to get the disc off his nose while they talked. As soon as Lilo asked him that, he was successful, but the disc went flying backstage. Stitch chased after it as he said cutely, "Come back shiny!" Lilo and Spike followed him. "Come on Stitch." Lilo said warningly before she continued, "No one's supposed to be back here."

It was then that she saw one of Myrtle's friends on a laptop, hiding with a communication device. "Moses hasn't asked a science question in a while, so I'll keep that page open." her friend spoke in the microphone of her communication device. Lilo put two and two together and looked at Myrtle, who was on stage, communicating with her friend through an earpiece. "Myrtle's cheating! No wonder she seems so smart." Lilo realized. Then she looked at Spike and said slyly, "Poor Theresa, having to do slave work for Myrtle. I bet she could use a hug."

Spike laughed excitedly, snuck behind Theresa, and hugged her. One of his spikes got her and her focus and intelligence decreased. Spike returned, showing that his mission was complete. Stitch had the disc back on his nose. "Come on Stitch, I think we can handle Myrtle now." Lilo said as she walked back to the stage. A few seconds later, the break ended. Mark looked focused at the Edmunds family and said, "Well, it doesn't look like Lilo cheated, I wonder what she was up to during the commercial break though."

"Myrtle, this next question goes to you. Complete this phrase: For every action, there is an equal and opposite blank." Moses said to her. Myrtle immediately said, "Oh, a science question, that's easy. For every action, there's an equal and opposite…" Myrtle waited for her friend to finish the question for her, but all Theresa said was, "Bucket of monkeys!" Myrtle, confidently, repeated what her friend had told her. This sparked laughter in the crowd and even Moses himself sounded amused as he said, "I—I'm sorry, that's incorrect. Lilo's team?" Jumba began explaining some sort of complicated thing but Lilo interrupted and said, "Reaction."

"That's correct." Moses replied. Yaarp honked happily three times and turned over Lilo's score, giving her family 20 points now. Jumba was upset with the simplifications of Earth science. Myrtle was having a fit and shouted, "That's not fair!!"

"Oh, quiet Maureen." Her aunt told her. Myrtle grabbed her aunt's shirt rudely and corrected harshly, "My name is Myrtle!"

"Maybe Aunt Stacy and I should answer some question now dear." Myrtle's mother suggested. "No! It won't happen again!" Myrtle harshly shouted. She gave a glare to the backstage and continued silently, "It better not!"

"Whoa!! And people think I'm bad enough." Mark commented on Myrtle's behavior. Backstage, Theresa was dancing around with a box on her head. Slowly, Lilo began catching up with Myrtle. "This next question goes to Lilo's aunt Pleakley: true or false, cotton T-shirts should be washed with like colors only?" Pleakley looked overjoyed and shouted, "True!" Pleakley then gave an I-told-you-so look to the camera. Mark was horrified as he shouted dramatically, "No…NOOOOO!!!" Mark then fell forward, his head hit the coffee table, and he continued in his normal tone, "I hate it when I'm wrong."

"Correct!" Moses said to Pleakley before continuing, "And with forty points separating the teams, we go into the lightning round. Can I have one player from each Ohana?" Myrtle's mother turned to her and suggested, once more, that maybe her aunt Stacey should be the one to answer the question. "No! I'm playing!" Myrtle interrupted her mother before hopping from her seat and walking to the center of the stage. When Mark heard that the lightning round was coming up, he got back in a seated position and hoped that Lilo, or whichever member of their Ohana would be competing, would be the victorious one.

"I should play, I'm the Earth expert here." Pleakley suggested. "Well, yeah, but Jumba has I.Q. larger than some galaxies." Jumba bragged. "No, let me do it." Lilo bravely said as she jumped from her seat. "But little girl thought that not-so-friendly friend Myrtle was smarter than she." Jumba explained. "Not anymore." Lilo happily said before walking on stage. "Wierdlo? I'm playing against you? This is going to be easier than I thought." Myrtle said to Lilo as she walked on stage. "You don't scare me Myrtle." Lilo said calmly with her arms crossed. Moses separated them and asked, "Are you ready girls?" Moses then looked at his question cards and said, "First question, where is the Eifel tower located?"

"In the bathroom." Theresa said cluelessly. Myrtle repeated confidently. "Paris, France." Lilo answered. "Ten points for Lilo." Moses said before moving on to the next question, "What did Neil Armstrong say when he landed on the moon?"

"Tastes like chicken!" Myrtle answered intensely. "This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Lilo answered with equal intensity. "Correct! How many feet in a mile?" Moses said. Yaarp was happily turning over Lilo's point cards with every question she got right.

"Bundt cake!" Myrtle answered. "Five-thousand two hundred and eighty!" Lilo answered. Another ten points were awarded to her family, giving Lilo three hundred and seventy points total, making it only ten points separating the teams now. "Who wrote Hamlet?" Moses asked. "Chauncey Pickles!" Myrtle answered. "William Shakespeare!" Lilo answered. "And the score is tied." Moses answered. "I like pickles." Theresa said stupidly. Myrtle took the earpiece out, threw it on the floor, and stepped on it. Mark appeared to be the only one to notice this as he closed in on the TV, pointed at Myrtle and shouted, "She was cheating! I knew it! Oh wait…no wonder I had this strange feeling that Lilo was up to something during the commercial break. She must have found Myrtle's source and had Spike do his thing. Clever girl."

"This is the final question." Moses said. Myrtle had this insanity-driven glare in her eyes that suddenly snapped to cluelessness as she heard Moses' final question, "What is the Hawaiian word for 'friendship'."

"What kind of question is that? I don't know anything about friendship." Myrtle harshly asked. "That's easy. Pilialoha!" Lilo answered. "That's correct, Lilo's team wins." Everybody except for Myrtle and her family were cheering for Lilo's victory. "No fair! That was a dumb question. And you have Mark Nissan for a brother." Myrtle accused. "Just because you didn't know it doesn't mean it was dumb Myrtle, and for the record, Mark would never allow any one of his family members to cheat like that. He's a man who lives by the rules and has a respect for them, which is why he decided to stay home and watch this contest on TV, instead of coming here himself."

Myrtle dare not accuse Lilo any further; for fear that Theresa might be discovered hiding backstage with her laptop. "Congratulations Lilo. Your family wins the new computer and encyclopedias on DVD." Moses said, showing the encyclopedias to her. "I can't believe we lost, this is the worst day of my life!" Myrtle shouted rudely. "Aww." Spike said compassionately before heading out the door and giving Myrtle a hug. "Stop hugging me! Ouch!" Myrtle said before her intelligence started to be completely drained away. Lilo was laughing, not at Myrtle, but in the happiness over how everything worked out in the end.

The next day, Pleakley continued his E.A.R.W.A.X. session. "Nosy, do you have something you'd like to share with the group?" He asked. "My name is Nosy and I'm—I'm—I'm a gossip." Nosy said before he started crying and ran over to Spike, who was wearing a knight outfit, and hugged him. "Who would have though that spiky experiment would make such good hugging treatment practitioner?" Jumba questioned. Stitch went next to Lilo and asked, "Wakata tooka, tooka?"

"Sorry Stitch. I donated the computer to the community center, I figure that this family is smart enough without it." Lilo answered. "Heh, little girl is almost as smart as evil genius." Jumba said before chuckling and repeated, "Almost."

"Oh Mark Nissan!" Pleakley called out in a teasing, sing-song tone. "Pleakley, please don't do this." Mark pleaded desperately. "A bet's a bet Mark, now you get out here so we can fix your problem so that something like this won't happen again." Pleakley scolded. "Ugh, fine." Mark groaned as he stepped around the corner and revealed why he didn't want to come out.

Mark was now wearing a stuffed pink dress and had a stressed look on his face. "Pleakley, I swear, I'm going to hurt you one of these days for this." Mark threatened. "Oh yeah right. Your Ohana has immunity to any and all physical abuse that comes from you. Everyone knows this already." Pleakley said in his defense. Mark groaned again as her realized that Pleakley was right.

Stitch thought of something for a moment and then rolled into the kitchen and came out wearing a dress that looked just like the one Mark was wearing but short enough to fit Stitch. Mark looked at Stitch and realized what he was trying to do. Upon realizing that Stitch was trying to make Mark feel better about his misfortune, Mark grinned, knelt down and began to stroke Stitch's head. Stitch nudged and purred as he usually did whenever Mark did this. Although he had just lost a bet and wasn't feeling too happy about it, and that he wasn't going to change his ways just yet, Mark couldn't help but feel that he had already found the one place he belonged. He belonged right there with Lilo and Stitch.


	3. Chapter 3: Mark's Defeat

All was quiet in the neighborhood, except for in the Pelekai house, where it sounded like two residents were arguing about something. But what? "I'm the smartest genius around here Jumba!" Mark argued loudly. "No, Jumba is. Jumba has been educated in genetic alternation and creation. Mark Car-person is mere earthling. Primitive caveman compared to Jumba." Jumba confidently shouted back.

Nani entered the room and shouted even louder, "QUIET!!! I have gotten over ten complaints of you two fighting over which one of you is smarter. How did this even start?"

"I don't know!" Mark answered in the same arguing tone. Jumba thought about it and answered calmly, "Jumba has no idea either."

Nani began massaging her forehead and said, "See? This is why arguing is pointless. You're attacking each other and in the end, you have no idea what even started it in the first place." Mark stood there in thought for a couple of seconds then said, "Yeah…whatever, I'm out. I got to go shopping for this Ohana." Before darting out of the room, and out the door. Nani groaned in anger, leaned up against the doorway, and said, "I will never understand why he can't behave as well as everybody else. Even Stitch behaves better than him."

Early the next morning a cop came walking out of a doughnut shop, obviously happy with his order as he had a bag of twenty-four doughnut holes and said to himself, "But a dozen doughnut holes, get a dozen free." As he walked to his car. He got in the car, placed the bag in the passenger seat and took out two purple experiment pods with the number three-four-nine on one and three-five-zero on the other.

Confused, the cop sniffed them, came to the conclusion that they must have been a new flavor, and dipped them in his coffee. The experiment pods activated in his hand. Surprised, he threw the activated pods into the passenger seat, but they were replaced by a big brown alien with one mechanical arm and a small green alien. They both were laughing mischievously before they stripped the cop down to his undergarments, handcuffed him, threw him out of the car, and drove away.

A few hours later, the TV in the Pelekai house stated that a wave of robberies occurred in the North Shore area earlier that morning and that there were no suspects. Jumba, who was working on some sort of machine, looked more interested in the news than what he was doing when he heard that there were no suspects.

Pleakely walked in, turned the TV off, and said in a slightly snobby tone, "They'll never catch a crook THAT way." Pleakely then turned back to the TV, pointed the remote at it and began, "Now, if my favorite earthling detective were on the case…" Pleakely then turned the TV on and changed to a different channel, showing some sort of old television series, watched a short clip, and continued, "Dicky Copper always gets his man…and never messes his hair. Speaking of which, where Is Mark? I haven't heard from him since yesterday when you two were arguing over which one was smarter. Kind of stupid for geniuses to be arguing over something like that."

"Bah, you've been hanging out with Mark Car-person for too long anyway, you are starting to pick up on annoying behavior." Pleakely just crossed his arms and frowned. Jumba continued, "Oh, and soapy opera is only pretend danger, but my Uflasium Incubator is real danger-filled danger." As he held up the device that he was working on. Jumba began admiring it and continued on, "one wrong screw-up driver…and KABLOOEE!" Jumba then chuckled, nudged the device, and finished, "Must be very delicate."

Stitch then burst into the room with Scrump in his mouth, as Lilo chased him while shouting, "Come back here with the club! It's my turn to play 'Headhunter'!" Stitch then jumped into the kitchen, accidentally tackling Pleakely in the process. Pleakely bumped into Nani, who fell back and crashed into something. "Lilo, you _lolo_!" Nani shouted in anger. Stitch spit Scrump out and both Lilo and Stitch ran to the couch. Nani got back up, went to the doorway, and shouted, "Lilo, Stitch!" Upon hearing these words, they both covered their faces with pillows in fear.

Nani walked up and scolded them as she said, "Yesterday, I told you no running around the house. So what do you do? You run around the house. Last week, I told you to clean your room. Is it clean?" At these words, Lilo lowered her pillow, smiling innocently, obviously about to answer, but Nani already knew the truth and said, "No! What's going to be next with you?" Jumba then complained, "She almost made me drop highly unstable container of Uflasium."

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" Nani asked Lilo. Both Lilo and Stitch slowly lowered their pillows and Lilo answered, "Well, uh, I ate breakfast like you asked. And I can prove it." After these words, Lilo pushed on her stomach and belched. Stitch began cracking up laughing. Nani, however, was not amused as she said, "And you're supposed to say excuse me when you burp! That's it! You two are grounded! Twenty four hours!" And walked away. As she did this, Mark entered the house with his hands full. Nani then turned her anger upon him, "And where were you!? It doesn't take an entire day to go shopping!"

"Well, you wouldn't believe how long the line was when I got there." Mark explained. Nani groaned in fury and stomped back into the kitchen. Mark looked around and said, "Alright…who did what?" Jumba just pointed to Lilo and Stitch. Lilo crossed her arms and said in an upset tone, "What's the big deal? We didn't hurt anyone." Mark scoffed, looked away from Lilo, and said, "Typical." Before heading into the kitchen to put away the groceries.

A few hours later, Gantu was returning to his ship from the current shopping he had just finished. Six-two-five was being his usual, annoying self as he constantly asked Gantu, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Gantu sighed and replied, "For the twentieth time, we're almost back to the ship! And we would have gotten there sooner if that abomination of an earthling, Mark Nissan, didn't put me in the hospital! Tell me, why on Earth did he think I was going to rob the place?"

"Just be glad that you only managed to get away with a dislocated shoulder. And give it a little gas grandpa, we don't want the cold cuts to spoil." Gantu groaned angrily at six-two-five's sarcasm and continued on his way.

Meanwhile, the two recently activated experiments were trying to break into Gantu's ship. The tall brown one with the mechanical arm was trying to drill through the hull while the short green one ordered, "Hurry up, we're being conspicuous." After realizing that it was no use, the one trying to drill stopped and complained, "This metal's too strong." At that moment, Gantu finally arrived. Gantu pulled on the brakes the second he spotted the experiments, causing six-two-five to lurch forward and a sandwich he was making to splatter against the windshield.

The two experiments made a run for it. "Experiments." Gantu grunted when he realized what they were and then he gave chase, six-two-five's sandwich flew off the windshield and in his face. They headed straight for the cop car, their getaway vehicle, and sped off, passing Gantu. Gantu pulled a u-turn and flew after them. The experiments did a u-turn, followed by a zigzag motion, to try and lose him. It didn't work. Six-two-five wiped the mustard off of his face and asked, "Hey, where ya going?! My cold cuts gotta stay cold!"

"Those trogs broke into my ship I can't let them get away!" Gantu answered. "Yeah? Well I can!" Six-two-five said before he reached for the emergency brake. "Not the emergency brake!" Gantu shouted, but it was too late. Six-two-five pulled the brakes and the experiments got away. "See?" Six-two-five said, showing Gantu what it said on his cold cuts package. "Refrigerate after opening. Now if that's not an emergency, I don't know what is. Am I right?" Gantu just crossed his arms, looked away, and growled furiously.

A while later, Gantu and six-two-five returned to their ship. Gantu checked his computer for recently activated experiments. The ones who tried to break into his ship appeared on the hologram projector and the computer notified, "Experiments three-four-nine and three-five-zero activated. Primary function: Theft and evasion."

"Thieves huh?" Gantu questioned before turning the hologram projector off. Gantu chuckled and said, "I'll have them stealing from Hamsterviel in no time!"

"First you gotta catch them." Six-two-five reminded him. "Easy. Thieves always return to the scene of a crime, and when they do we'll be waiting." Gantu said intelligently.

The next morning, Lilo and Stitch were in their room while Nani was in the kitchen and Mark was in the living room, boredly scrolling through the television channels. "And then the beautiful Hawaiian princess was punished by the evil queen who banished the princess and her faithful steed to the tower, where they were forbidden to leave for a whole entire day! And there they rotted into skeletons even though they just wanted to run around the house and burp." Lilo complained up in her room, raising her voice halfway through, making sure that it reached her sister's ears.

Nani just raised an eyebrow up at them and then returned to reading her book. Stitch, however, heard Lilo's complaints as he was right there next to her and suddenly decided to break out. "Where are you going?" Lilo asked as she saw Stitch trying to climb out the window. "Ketuka naga!" Stitch answered and then tried to jump for it, but Lilo rushed up and grabbed him by the foot before he could do so. "We can't leave. We're grounded."

"Makka makka! Sasa!"

"I don't care if it's a free country. Nani would roast us. And I don't care that we should be able to do whatever we want to do whenever we want to do it. We can't leave. So…so…" Lilo looked back, released Stitch and said, "What are you waiting for? Help me up." Stitch then grabbed Lilo's arm and brought her with him.

Mark spotted them heading for the bicycle and glanced at Nani momentarily to see if she was watching. She wasn't. Mark then turned the television off and said "Alright, I'm heading out. I'm getting the feeling that I'll run into another experiment today."

"Alright, just don't stay out too long." Nani replied, still reading her book. Mark left the house and caught up with Lilo and Stitch. "Hey!" He shouted as he went up to them, they both looked at him, worried that he was going to make them go back. That is…before he said, "Mind if I join you two?" They both happily nodded and the three of them took off into the town.

A short while later, the two thieving experiments broke through the back wall of a store, carrying a couple of packages and a bag of money. They took off to their police vehicle, laughing with pleasure of what they had done. "Look, those must be the robbers from the news." Lilo pointed out as the experiments got in their car. "Ya think?" Mark asked sarcastically, but Lilo ignored him and continued, "And they're--" she began before Stitch interrupted, "Cousins!"

Stitch chased them to an abandoned warehouse on the bike while Mark did his best to keep up with the experiments on foot, keeping ahead of Stitch. As Lilo and Stitch arrived, Mark was crouched near the back of the vehicle, hiding. When he noticed they were there, Mark pointed to the warehouse, indicating that they went in there. Lilo got off the bike and slid open the huge door and announced, "We've got you cornered, cousins!" Mark and Stitch followed Lilo closely. "Really?" Said the green experiment before continuing, "I think it's us got the drop on you, cuz."

Stitch growled at the experiment while Mark pointed his EMP cannon at her. He knew that a simple EMP wouldn't have any effect on the experiments, but he figured that as long as they didn't know that, he'd have the upper hand until they found out. "Well hello there blue boy. One of Jumba's huh? " The green experiment said to Stitch before turning to Mark and demanded, "And you, put that thing down before we steal it from ya!" Not wanting one of his best tools to be stolen, Mark lowered his weapon.

"Smart man." The green experiment complimented on Mark's actions. "Hi, I'm Lilo, this is Mark and this is Stitch." Stitch smiled cutely as Lilo introduced him. "He's your cousin." Lilo explained. "This is how it works, I turn you from bad to good and find you the one place where you belong so that you don't end up with Gantu." She continued.

"What do you know about Gantu?" The green experiment asked her. Lilo answered, "We know everything about him. He's a stinky head, and he tries to get our experiments, but he's really lame. So even when he takes our experiments back to his ship, we can usually rescue them."

"You've…broken into his ship?" The green experiment asked Lilo with incredible interest in the matter. Mark answered before Lilo could, "Well, it's not impossible. That lousy excuse for a henchman doesn't exactly have the brains to install a decent security system."

The experiments laughed uncontrollably at this for a few moments and when the green one finally caught her breath she said, "Anybody who can dis Gantu like that is a friend of ours. Come in, come in. I'm three-four-nine and he's three-five-o. Welcome to our domicile." Three-five-zero, who had stopped laughing around the same time as three-four-nine did, decided to question three-four-nine as he said when Mark, Lilo and Stitch were out of earshot, "What are you doing? You're showin' them out hideout. I know that Mark guy is cool with us and all, but I don't think--"

"How may times I gotta tell ya? Leave the thinking to me. Those three goodie-goodies are going to help us break into that very high-tech, very valuable space ship."

"Wow, this place is a mess. I bet your evil queen--I mean, big sister, grounds you all the time." Lilo said about the hideout. Mark rolled his eyes at this but didn't say anything. "Nah, we're free agents, nobody tells us what to do." Experiment three-four-nine replied. "Wow! That's awesome." Lilo said happily. Mark, however, smelled a trap. And whatever those two were planning, Lilo and Stitch were falling right into it. "Well, it's been nice chatting, guess you three should be getting home." Three-four-nine suddenly said. "Wait! We want to stay here with you and be free agents." Lilo replied. Mark was afraid of this. The bait had been taken, and experiment three-four-nine was reeling them right in.

"Well, I don't know." Three-four-nine said as if she was thinking about it. Lilo and Stitch begged as they got on their knees and said the word 'please' for a while. Mark just stood there, examining the boxes and showing no interest in the matter, but listening to every word, desperate not to fall for three-four-nine's plan. Three-four-nine winked at three-five-zero and allowed both of them to stay, and for the sake of seeing what three-four-nine was up to, Mark decided to stay as well.

A couple moments later, everyone but Mark was drinking soda. Mark preferred to take care of his body and chose to drink water instead. Three-five-zero smashed his can of soda against his head when he was finished, crushing it. Stitch did the same, but with a full can. Lilo tried to do the same, but just ended up giving herself a headache. Later, they ate bananas, Mark decided to join then in this. They ate them rather uniquely, they squeezed them from the peel and caught them in their mouth. Mark, Three-four-nine, and Three-five-zero succeeded but when Lilo tried it, she accidentally got the banana shoved up Stitch's nose.

A while later, they drank large bottles of soda this time and, once again, Mark decided to sit this one out. Then they had a burping contest, Three-four-nine was first, Lilo was second, Three-five-zero was third, and Stitch was last and loudest as his burp, literally, shook the area. "Whoa, good one blue!" Three-four-nine commented. Lilo laughed and then said, "I've been thinking, you guys need better robbery names. From now on, you're Bonnie," Lilo said as she pointed to three-four-nine. "and you're Clyde." She finished as she pointed to Three-five-zero. Clyde belched in approval.

"Yup. And speaking of robbing, we've got to get back to work." Bonnie said before beckoning Clyde, heading for the door, and saying, "Guess you guys better hit the road."

"But we like staying here." Lilo protested. "Sorry, we can't leave you here, too dangerous. And we couldn't possibly bring you along." Bonnie replied. "Why not?" Lilo asked. "Oh, you don't want to hang out with us. We're just going out to have fun, be free." Bonnie said. Clyde continued her list by saying, "Steal stuff."

Bonnie elbowed Clyde's stomach to remind him to not mention that to them. Mark, however, heard everything and said, "That's it. Sorry guys, but I'm going to have to let Nani know what you guys are up to." And with that, he headed for the door. "Naga!" Stitch yelled in fear and before anybody knew what had happened, Stitch was on Mark's back, causing Mark to lose his balance and hit his head on the wall, hard enough to knock him unconscious. When Mark came to, he was bound in chains to a package carrier and his jacket was gone. "Tsk, tsk. And here I thought we were gonna be buds." Bonnie said in a disappointed tone to Mark. Stitch was hiding behind Lilo, scared that Mark would be angry at him after what he had just done.

"Lilo, Stitch, you guys DO know that I'm going to get out of this?" He asked them before shifting his hands, but they did not slip through, it appeared that his EMP cannons were getting caught in the chains. However, his EMP cannons were equipped with sharp blades that could slice through rope in less than a second. Metal, however, was a different story. "Oh yeah, we know, but we just figured that it's going to take you a while to break free." Lilo answered smartly. "Well, I guess we have no choice but to take you with us, despite you almost turning us in." Bonnie said suddenly.

"What?" Clyde questioned. "Well yeah, this guy is a part of their family and he can't stay here, someone's bound to go looking for him if he doesn't turn up sooner or later, they'll find him eventually if he stays in one place. But we'll constantly be on the move, going from place to place, they won't find him until they catch us. Which they won't." Bonnie explained. "Good plan. You're almost as smart as I am." Mark commented Bonnie.

"So, what's the deal come to?" Mark asked them. "Oh, it's simple, they come with us as long as nobody else gets hurt. Lilo's idea." Bonnie answered before taping Mark's mouth shut and having Clyde wheel him out to the car. Mark saw the great regret in Stitch's eyes and could tell that he was sorry without him even saying it. Mark quickly, and silently, forgave the little blue alien.

Lilo rushed to the car, dragging a sad Stitch along with her. Once they were out of earshot, Bonnie turned to Mark and said, "Look pal, I know that you know what we're up to. I mean, why else would you want to turn us in? I can tell that you're not one to throw away fun when the opportunity pops up unless it involves something you know is wrong. So it's like this, you're going to be on the roof of the car, blue told us that you like to ride on top. And you're going to keep quiet, or else!" Mark nodded to show that he understood, but he also showed no fear in the situation, something he learned from his few hours in the CIA.

"Good." Bonnie said when she saw him nod. "You sure about taking those two with us though?" Clyde asked Bonnie. "They're our decoys, see? While they're being a little naughty having fun, we're doing crimes and they won't even know it. Once we got them trained, we move on to the big prize." Bonnie answered. Clyde covered the back of the package carrier with a strong magnetic substance to keep Mark on to of the car. Mark's gadgets, however, were not affected by the magnet at all, and Mark began his long process of trying to cut through the chains.

Lilo and Stitch were pretty much breaking rules everywhere. They were hopping around on a grass field with a sign that said clearly, "Keep off the grass." After attracting a cop's attention, Bonnie and Clyde made their move and actually stole some of the grass. Then Lilo and Stitch were T.P.ing Myrtle's house and then ran for it as Myrtle's mother saw the damage. Bonnie and Clyde stole her television and vase while she was distracted.

Mark was not liking any bit of it, of course. Bonnie always managed to find places to keep the car hidden where people wouldn't see it. Just as Lilo and Stitch were about to pull their prank on Mrs. Hasagawa, they saw Bonnie and Clyde steal some of her produce as well as he wig and hose. A few hours later, night had arrived and Mark managed to cut halfway through the chains as Bonnie and Clyde's next target was Gantu's ship. "Gantu's ship? What are we doing here?" Lilo asked Bonnie, who answered, "It's the only thing on this mud ball with anything worth taking. We tried to hit it once, but it's got heavy-duty armor. That's why you two come in, seeing as Mr. Traitor up there can't be trusted. You're going to help us break in."

Lilo and Stitch looked at each other, obviously thinking that Mark had the right idea after hearing of Bonnie's plan. "What's the matter? You've done it before right?" Bonnie asked them when she saw this. "I don't know. Before, we were rescuing experiments. But breaking in to steal stuff?" Lilo replied.

"Look, this thug's always stealing your cousins right? And you're not up to returning the favor?" Bonnie cleverly questioned Lilo. Lilo fell for it once again and said, "Well…when you put it like that."

A few minutes later, Gantu left his ship again and Bonnie, Clyde, Lilo, and Stitch started their operation to break into Gantu's ship. First, Stitch listened for the power generator and pointed it out and Bonnie marked the spot with a marker that she stole. Clyde then drilled through the hull and Bonnie opened the maintenance hatch. Stitch went through the maintenance hatch and opened the door from the inside, laughing excitedly at the success of the break-in while Bonnie crossed her arms and smiled at her own brilliance.

All four of them went up to the control room. "Jackpot!" Clyde said excitedly. Both Clyde and Stitch entered the room to check it out when suddenly, two experiment capsules dropped from the ceiling and confined both Clyde and Stitch. Lilo called out Stitch's name in shock as she saw this and both her and Bonnie, stupidly, ran into the room after them. This only resulted in all four of them getting captured. Gantu then arrived; he really didn't leave after all. After a few moments, he had Bonnie and Clyde ready to be transported and he had Lilo and Stitch in confinement on a chair.

"You should have known better to sneak on this ship without your new guy." He gloated to Lilo and Stitch before turning to Bonnie and Clyde and saying, "Dr. Hamsterviel will make good use of your thieving skills." Stitch struggled to get free from his capsule, but all he managed to do was to fall of the chair and began rolling to the elevator. Obviously thinking that he was going to go fetch Mark, Gantu said, "You're not going anywhere!" And shot at Stitch with his blaster, breaking the capsule and setting Stitch free.

Stitch rolled into a ball and went through the computer system. "Oh blitsnak." Gantu said after realizing what he had just done. Stitch then began destroying the computer from the inside out. Gantu followed him and, stupidly, shot his own computer a couple of times, thinking that that's where Stitch was. Stitch then broke of the computer system behind Lilo, and released her. "There you are!" Gantu said as he turned around and got ready to shoot again. "Chubi Chiba!" Stitch shouted before jumping onto Gantu's face. Gantu lost his balance and began shooting everywhere.

While he was being distracted, Lilo broke Bonnie and Clyde out of their capsules and commanded them to follow her as she made a run for it. They did so and Stitch grabbed Gantu's blaster, shot the gears for an escape pod above him, and jumped for the elevator just as Lilo, Bonnie, and Clyde entered. Gantu grabbed his blaster, which stitch threw to the side shortly after using it, and aimed at them. Before he could fire, however, the escape pod fell on him, trapping him where he lay as Lilo, Stitch, Bonnie, and Clyde made their escape. As they drove away, Bonnie complimented Lilo, "I gotta hand it ya kid. That was quite the escape. You two got great criminal minds." Lilo and Stitch became worried at these words as Lilo suddenly asked Stitch, "When did we cross the big fat line from having fun to being great criminal minds?"

Back at Bonnie and Clyde's hideout, the police had discovered where they were keeping their stolen items. "We've got to catch these guys." One of the cops said as he saw the others carrying the stolen stuff out. He then turned to the other cop behind him and said, "I've only got to go surfing once today. If Mark Nissan were still on the squad, he would have known what to do the minute these guys started stealing stuff." Bonnie and Clyde, who were parked out of the cops' view suddenly, realized that they had an ex-cop on the top of their roof. Bonnie looked up at him for a moment. Mark appeared to be asleep. Bonnie looked back at the hideout and said, "Better move on."

Clyde then drove away from their old hideout and decided to find a new one. "What are we going to do now?" Lilo asked Bonnie as they continued driving. "We're going to dump the car and the ex-cop and lay low for a while." Bonnie answered. "But, I thought we needed to keep him with us." Clyde suddenly said in surprise. "Listen, They're going to find him if we lay low, and when they do, they're going to find us too if we're going to keep him with us. He knows what we look like, sure and he can give them Lilo and Stitch's description, but if he doesn't know where we are heading for next, then we're home free. It'll take them a while to find us, and it'll be too late when they think they did." Bonnie explained.

Suddenly, still thinking that Mark was really sleeping, Bonnie turned to Lilo and asked, "Where's your crib?"

"My house!? We can't go there! My sister--"

"Your sister will never know nothin'! Unless you tell her, which you won't. Because we got dirty laundry on you now." Bonnie threatened. "Dirty laundry?" Lilo questioned. "You don't want us to tell that you've been doin' crimes with Bonnie and Clyde do ya?" Bonnie asked. "I think we blew it, Stitch." Lilo said to her companion. "Ih." Stitch replied. Mark was wide awake and heard every word.

When they arrived at the house, they carefully climbed around the living room window to avoid being seen by Pleakely, who was cleaning the couch and watching his cop show at the same time. Lilo closed the window when all four of them entered her room. "You can hide in here for now, but you have to be quiet. When they find Mark, this is probably the first place he'd have the cops check." Lilo told Bonnie and Clyde. Clyde, who was relaxing on Stitch's bed, was thrown off by the little blue alien shortly after this. Lilo heard the elevator under her room moving and warned, "Someone's coming! Hide!" Bonnie and Clyde dove for her dirty laundry pile, perfectly disguising themselves, but making the pile look somewhat bigger.

"Boy, I wish I could interrogate people like detective Dicky Copper." Pleakely said excitedly as he rose up the elevator with a laundry basket under one of his noodle-like arms. "Alright ya crooks, let's talk about your dirty laundry." Pleakely said to Lilo and Stitch as he came out of the elevator, with an intimidating look on his face. "Our dirty laundry?" Lilo suddenly said, worried that Pleakely had found everything out somehow. Pleakely then grabbed a lamp and then began pretending to interrogate them as he held the lamp over their heads, making it shine on them like a spotlight. "I know what you're hiding, filthy, smelly unmentionables. Dark reminders of your dirty dealings. Relax, we just want to ask you a few questions."

"We?" Lilo asked. "It's a good-cop/bad-cop thing." Pleakely whispered to her before he continued his pretend interrogation, "Why not make it easy on yourself guys, it's all going to come out of the wash anyway."

"Uh…" Lilo said, both confused, and worried. "Quit stallin' half-pint!" Pleakely said harshly to her and they both gulped. "Well…" Lilo began but Pleakely interrupted her with his pretend interrogation, this time having a conversation with himself, "Hey, hey, calm down partner, they're just kids. You're a softie, these little runts made a mess of things and now they gotta come clean…or do you want to talk about it downtown?"

"I…I…" Lilo began when suddenly, Nani arrived, honked the horn and said, "Lilo, I'm home. You and Stitch to come downstairs. I need to talk to both of you." Lilo was never more glad to hear her sister's voice and said to Pleakely, "We gotta go." Before grabbing Stitch and heading down the elevator. "Well that was fun." Pleakely said to himself before he got to loading up Lilo and Stitch's dirty laundry in the basket. He uncovered Bonnie and Clyde after a few shirts. Clyde handed him a sock and Pleakely said, "Oh, thank you…Wah!! Hey, you two match the police description of a pair of--!" Pleakely said before Bonnie and Clyde attacked him.

"Nani, Stitch and I are so sorry." Lilo said just as she entered the kitchen, thinking that her sister found out everything somehow. "Ah, forget about it. Who wants pizza and ice cream?" Nani kindly offered. "Ice cream?" Lilo questioned while Stitch looked happy and said, "Mmm."

"Yeah, I kind of overreacted earlier. I mean, you were only roughhousing and burping. It's not like you're criminals or anything." Nani said as she began serving the pizza. Lilo and Stitch looked down guiltily. "And you paid your debt to society. You stayed in all day, like good little prisoners." Stitch began chowing down on the ice cream while Lilo examined the pizza and said, "We're not hungry, are we Stitch?" Stitch just stared at Lilo for a while as if trying to say, "But…it's so good!"

Regardless of the look he had just given her, he spit the ice cream back in the bowl he got it out of and lowered his ears in shame. "Not hungry for pizza and ice cream? Why?" Nani asked, becoming slightly suspicious. "Ok, ok, we'll talk! We didn't stay in all day, we broke out, and Mark came with us, and we met two of Stitch's cousins who have been doing all of the recent robberies, and then Mark was about to go to you but Stitch stopped him and then we tied him to a package carrier and then we walked on the grass, and then we T.P.'d Myrtle's house and then we took nuts from Mrs. Hasagawa, and then we helped them break into Gantu's ship. We plead guilt to all charges!" Lilo suddenly confessed and rested her head on the table.

"Oh Lilo. Why would you do things like that?" Nani asked her. "Bonnie and Clyde let us do whatever we want, and we thought it was ok because we weren't hurting anyone." Lilo answered. "But Lilo, you were hurting people. Myrtle's mom has to clean up her house because of what you did, and Mrs. Hasagawa has to pay to replace whatever you took, and you broke the bond of friendship that you and Mark had, and…and most of all, you hurt yourselves, and me. How am I supposed to trust you again?" Nani said to her sister, throwing her towel on the table as she finished talking.

"Help! Help!" Pleakely suddenly shouted. "Now what?" Nani asked herself before walking into the living room and seeing the door open and a completely empty room. Lilo gasped as she saw that all of their stuff was gone. "Quick, they're escaping!" Pleakely shouted. He was tied up with Jumba in the middle of the living room floor. Bonnie and Clyde drove away with all of the stuff, as they passed by the stairs, however, Mark, who had managed to get the package carrier off the cop's car and back to his house while still being halfway tied up, managed to attach himself to their new getaway vehicle.

"Come on Stitch, let's get 'em!" Lilo said confidently to her companion. "Oh, makka,makka!" Stitch replied. They both were about to begin their chase Nani grabbed them, pulled them back in the house and said, "You're not going anywhere."

"But Stitch and I are the best ones here at catching experiments." Lilo complained. "Yeah, too bad I can't trust you." Nani replied and headed into the house. Nani had sent Lilo and Stitch back into their room and had Pleakely watch them this time to make sure that they didn't break out again.

"I've been given strict orders to keep you two little crooks here while Nani calls the police." Pleakely said to both of them as he arrived wearing Mark's long jacket, which Bonnie and Clyde dropped when they escaped from the house. "But we've got to make up for what we did by helping Mark catch Bonnie and Clyde, you've got to let us go!" Lilo explained to Pleakely. "Lilo, I know a little something about the law, and rule number one is, don't let the bad guys go." Pleakely replied. "But what if we weren't the bad guys anymore, what if we were the good guys?" Lilo asked Pleakely, who smiled as he got an idea.

A while later, Pleakely began pacing around the room and asked, "Do you promise to uphold the law, bring criminals to justice, and never do anything evil or bad again?"

"Yup." Both Lilo and Stitch replied at the same time. "Then by the power vested in me by the Dicky Copper Junior Detective fan club, I pronounce you deputy Lilo and deputy Stitch." Pleakely officially declared as he game them both cookies in the shape of badges. Stitch sniffed his and opened his mouth in an attempt to eat it, but then Pleakely said, "Deputies are not to eat their cookie badges." Stitch took the badge out of his mouth and grinned nervously.

Lilo, Stitch, and Pleakely followed Jumba out back as he said, "Since buggy was stolen, you good guys will need other way to chase bad guys to their hideout." After saying this, he pulled a large sheet off of the red police cruiser that Stitch stole during his escape from the prison transport. Jumba showed the only difference he made with the cruiser before Lilo and Stitch got in, which was the new leopard style seat cover. "You guys get going." Pleakely said to Lilo and Stitch before walking back to the house and continuing, "I know exactly what detective Dicky Copper would do next."

On the coast road, Bonnie and Clyde were still making their getaway, while Mark managed to cut the chains down to a few layers of metal left. "Those coppers will never find us at our new hideout." Bonnie said confidently before Gantu shot at them, forcing the car to tilt. "Whoa! Hey, knock it off, I'm a civilian!" Mark shouted at Gantu, not knowing it was him until he saw the flying craft's design. Bonnie and Clyde heard him and Bonnie complained, "This guy is always around when ya don't want him." as she got the car back on its tires. Gantu then shot one of the tires off, causing the car to spin and get stuck over the railing, with Mark hanging over a few hundred feet directly over an ocean.

"I've got you now." Gantu said as he went for them. Then Lilo and Stitch arrived and began shooting at Gantu from behind. "Yee ha!" Stitch shouted as he began shooting again, this time, disabling one of Gantu's engines and sending him right into the ocean. Lilo and Stitch flew right over to Bonnie, Clyde and Mark. Bonnie and Clyde got out, put their hands up, and said, "Don't shoot!" Lilo then offered them a ride, going along with her own plan. Mark, who heard everything that Lilo and Stitch said in the stolen police car, knew exactly what they were planning. However, Bonnie and Clyde were too grateful to see past them and got on board.

Lilo and Stitch flew away just as the police arrived. A cop, Nani, and Pleakely got out of the arriving cop vehicle. "Did that car just fly away?" The cop asked. "Must be an off road vehicle." Pleakely suggested. Nani looked at the car and recognized Mark immediately. "Mark?" Nani asked. Mark then managed to cut himself free, untangle himself and then swing back onto the road. "Oh yeah, that's him." Pleakely said calmly after seeing this. Mark ripped the tape off of his mouth quickly and said, "Ow! I'll feel that in the morning. What the? Hey! That's my jacket you're wearing!" Mark then jumped at Pleakely who abandoned the Jacket, Pleakely had another one on under that with a badge, and retreated to the other side of the car, screaming.

Mark picked up the jacket, dusted it off and put it back on before turning to Pleakely angrily and scolded, "NEVER, wear my jacket again."

"Mark Nissan…best cop in Kauai, and most known for being the only man in the world who was too talented for the CIA, tied by chains to a package carrier that was glued to the back of a dune buggy…how on earth did that happen?" The cop asked. "No time to explain in my humiliating defeat at the moment. Just follow that flying car!" Mark demanded seriously. "Yes sir." The cop said proudly, obviously not knowing the real Mark Nissan.

Lilo and Stitch parked the police cruiser behind Kiki's Coffee Hut and went inside with Bonnie and Clyde. Upon arriving, Bonnie said, "Our new hideout is a place they'd never expect…a place we already robbed!"

"That's clever alright." Lilo complimented as she entered the new hideout. "You made one teensy mistake though." Lilo continued. "Yeah? And what's that?" Bonnie asked. "Thinking that you could turn us from good to bad." Lilo said as she and stitch pulled out their badges. Stitch pulled out a blaster at them and said, "You're busted."

"Scatter Clyde!" Bonnie ordered. Clyde and Bonnie went for the window, but couldn't get it open. Stitch then captured them both with a net. "Nice shot partner." Lilo complimented Stitch just as the police arrived. Lilo and Stitch walked out the front door. Nani and the cop were there first. "Lilo, I can't believe you disobeyed me again." Nani said in a scolding tone. "You two are in real big trouble this time. I'm going to have to take you down to the station." Pleakely suddenly bust through the both of them shouting, "Oh no you don't!" Mark then arrived and said to the cop and Nani, "You two should be thanking them. They caught the real crooks."

"What?" they both asked him.

Pleakely went inside and pulled out Bonnie and Clyde. "How does it feel to be tied up?" Mark asked them sarcastically, they glared at him and Clyde answered, "Humiliating."

"Exactly, which is what I had to feel for the past five hours." Mark replied. "Lilo, Stitch, and I infiltrated the thieves' gang so that they would lead us to their hideout." Pleakely explained. "Good plan." Both the cop and Mark complimented. The cop had his usual expression on his face while Mark appeared surprised. Pleakely never really struck him as the clever type.

"It's a very basic sting procedure. Don't you watch Dicky Copper?" Mark had a look of displeased irony and said, "Pleakely…you've been watching too much TV…and for once, that's actually a good thing." Lilo and Stitch looked at Nani and Lilo said, "We're sorry we disobeyed you again. We had to catch the bad guys. So…are we off the hook?" Lilo and Stitch smiled innocently as the sentence was finished. Nani thought about it for a while and said, "Well, you were trying to do the right thing and you did catch the bad guys so…yeah, you and me are cool."

Lilo and Stitch then looked at Mark and before either of them could say anything, Mark said, "I forgave you two a long time ago. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't expect a punishment after you've paid your true debt to society." Lilo and Stitch didn't care about the punishment that they would receive, they were just happy that their Ohana forgave them both. "However," said the cop, and their smiles of joy turned into looks of fear as the cop continued, "You and the Municipality of Kokaua town…that's a different story."

What the cop had in store for them wasn't too bad. They just had to fix the damage to what they did when they were with Bonnie and Clyde, such as cleaning up the toilet paper, giving Mrs. Hasagawa her stuff back, and putting back the grass that Bonnie and Clyde stole. "This making up is hard work. And we still have to find the one place where Bonnie and Clyde belong. Fortunately, we have fifteen to twenty years to think about it." Lilo said as she and Stitch were washing a huge pile of dishes in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Clyde were clearly not happy with where they were now, in the Kokaua prison.

Back at the house, Mark was flipping through channels boredly again when Nani came into the room. "Mark, can I speak with you." She asked him in a suspiciously sweet tone. Cautiously, Mark got up and went over to her. "Yes?" He asked her. "First off, I want to thank you for trying your best to keep an eye on Lilo and Stitch while they were out." Mark suddenly lost his suspicion and said, "Ok, it's really no trouble."

"And you're grounded." Nani said suddenly.

Mark's jaw dropped as he was completely caught off guard by this. He didn't bother asking what for, but Nani seemed to tell him anyway, "For not telling me when you saw Lilo and Stitch break out. And for staying out past night. And why didn't you answer your phone? I called you like fifty times when you didn't show! And don't give me the excuse that you were tied up…" Mark just groaned in additional humiliation and covered his face while Lilo and Stitch, who overheard the whole thing, found it quite amusing and couldn't help but quietly laugh for a while.


	4. Chapter 4: Stitch Troubles

-1"I'm gonna get you Stitch!" Mark shouted playfully as he chased the alien throughout the house in a game of tag. "Naga." Stitch replied in an equally playful tone as he climbed on the wall and stood on the ceiling, beyond Mark's reach. "Hey, that's cheating, little buddy." Mark complained playfully. Stitch just stuck his tongue out at him and said, "Nah, nah." Mark chuckled at the taunt and said, "All right, you asked for it." before running up the wall and jumping after the little alien. Stitch clung even closer to the ceiling and was just beyond Mark's reach.

Mark landed on his feet and Stitch taunted him even more by sticking his butt at him and saying, "Ika patooki." Mark wasn't offended by Stitch's taunts, he knew that Stitch was only playing around. "Hmm…" Mark said as he looked around the room trying to find a way to tag Stitch. Mark then got an idea and jumped off the wall as close to the ceiling as he could and reached out his hand to tag the little blue alien, but then Stitch clung to the ceiling again at the last moment and Mark fell to the floor, landing on his back this time.

"Mark, Stitch. Let's go." Nani said as she came down the stairs with Lilo, Jumba, and Pleakely. "Where're we going?" Mark asked Nani as he got back up and Stitch jumped off the ceiling. "We're going to Macki Macaw's."

"The Pizza place?"

"Yes, the Pizza place, now hurry it up." Nani said as she left the house with the others. Mark quickly followed them.

Once they arrived there, the stage show, which involved a cheesy series of songs that were being sung by nothing but robots started and the star, Macki Macaw, suddenly malfunctioned and burst into flames. A few kids screamed in fear when this happened and a waiter quickly put the fire out and closed the stage. "Uh, Macki's taking a little hometown nap." the waiter tried to cover up for the kids who didn't know what just happened. Boos of protest were shouted from various children.

"Primitive earth entertainment technology, very entertaining." Jumba said as he clapped his hands. "Especially when he entertained us by catching on fire. Fascinating." Pleakely said as he started pouring drinks. As Stitch raised his glass for it to be filled Lilo said to him, "Wait your turn Stitch." Then she turned her attention to Pleakely, who seemed to have forgotten Stitch and stopped pouring drinks. Mark smacked Pleakely upside the head when he saw him forget Stitch. "Ow! What was that for?" Pleakely asked Mark, who simply answered, "You'll find out."

"Macki may be combustibally challenged. But I love this place. It's homey." Lilo said before she took a sip of her soda.

"Why don't we come here more often?" Lilo asked just before Stitch got upset, jumped on the pizza, sending cheese and sauce flying in all directions, chugged the entire pitcher of soda, and threw the empty pitcher behind him afterwards. "Shouldn't have forgotten him." Mark said to Pleakely in an I-told-you-so kind of tone as he wiped the pizza debris off his face. "That's why." Nani answered Lilo before diving after Stitch, who jumped out of the way just in time. The waiter who shut down the show went up to their table, placed the pitcher on the table and glared at Nani, who smiled nervously.

"Be sure to leave him a big tip." Lilo told Nani before leaving the table. Mark then stood up and offered to make up for Stitch's outburst and Pleakely's convenient amnesia when it came to pouring Stitch's drink. The waiter asked, "Whoa…wait a minute, aren't you Mark Nissan?"

"Yes, I am." Mark answered. "That's great! You could fix the robots. Our head mechanic can only keep Macki working for a few seconds. Come up and have a look will ya?"

"Of course." Mark said before he got up and followed the waiter to the stage. To no surprise, his presence caught the eyes of many different people as he walked up to the stage.

"Come on, Stitch. There's prizes to be won." Lilo called out to him as she went over to a prize grabber machine. Stitch made his way down the ceiling after she called for him. Lilo's eye caught a closed shell with tape around it that read: Genuine Local Pearl Oyster. Lilo read it aloud and then said to Stitch, who walked up right behind her, "We could be multi-millionaires!"

"Ih, ih, ih!" Stitch said excitedly as he nodded his head. "But I don't have a quarter." Lilo said suddenly, looking down in disappointment.

Stitch suddenly extended one of his arms and showed her that he had gotten one somewhere. "Yay for extra-terrestrial puppies!" Lilo exclaimed in joy as Stitch put the quarter in and got the oyster. However, just as the claw was about to drop it in the receive bin, the machine malfunctioned and shut off. Stitch lost it, picked up the machine and shook it, trying to get the oyster free. "Hey, cut it out!" Nani shouted at Stitch before running up to him. Stitch put the machine down and climbed on top of it. Nani grabbed him and asked, "What's the matter with you?"

"It's not Stitch's fault." Lilo tried to explain. "The machine cheated. I saw it. He was just trying to win me a prize." She finished just as the waiter had approached behind her with Mark. Stitch saw them both, grinned nervously, and let the machine go, putting it back in it's original position. The oyster finally managed to get itself free from the malfunctioned claw, launched out of the bin and rolled to Lilo. "See?" She said after she picked it up. Then she saw Mark and the waiter and said, "Sorry, here." as she handed it to the waiter, who said simply, "Keep it, just go."

Nani brought Lilo and Stitch out of the place while the waiter turned to Mark and asked, "So, what's the news on Macki?"

"Well, the engine's all out of whack. It'll work fine for a few days, but it'll break again." Mark answered. "And this machine?" The waiter asked of Mark again as he pointed to the prize grabber that had shut down on Lilo and Stitch. "Ah, a simple, yet very effective, method of repair." Mark said as he walked up to it and simply kicked the back of the machine. When he did this, the claw finally made a move as if it was releasing something and then moved back to its starting position. "Aloha." Mark said before walking out of the restaurant with his family.

A while later, nightfall had arrived and Nani was knocking on the bathroom door asking Lilo, "Lilo, have you finished giving him a bath?" The minute she said the word 'bath' there was a splashing sound and then, a few seconds later, Stitch came running out of the bathroom, wearing a pink shower cap and a green inner tube as he shouted, "Ooh! Uda Booga!" Lilo chased after him. Mark was crossing the hall just as Lilo left the bathroom, nearly tripping Mark. "Hey, be careful! This is a family of six now." He said to her after he had regained his balance.

Stitch went for the doggy door but the inner tube he was wearing got him stuck. "You know how he is with water, I almost had him lulled into a false sense of security." Lilo scolded her older sister before trying to get Stitch back in the house and continuing, "And then you said the 'B' word. Never say the 'B' word!"

"You mean…bath?" Nani asked Lilo, raising her voice on the word bath so that Stitch could hear it. Stitch then managed to free himself from the inner tube, and drag Lilo into wearing it instead. "Why do you torment me?" Lilo asked her sister as she hung dully in the doggy door.

Stitch made his way up to the second floor window and crawled into Jumba and Pleakely's room. "Well, look who's on the lam from the lather." Pleakely said as he saw Stitch. Jumba stopped working on a new design and turned to see what Pleakely was talking about. "Running from the long arm of the lavatory huh?" Pleakely continued. Stitch whimpered, looked around, and smiled as he saw the laundry hamper. Stitch climbed into it just as Lilo came in the room, but she saw the lid close and knew exactly where Stitch hid.

"Hmm. I wonder where Stitch is." Lilo said slyly. Jumba and Pleakely played along. "Who can say? Probably not in soiled apparel depository." Jumba said. "Oh no, definitely not in there." Pleakely finished. "Ok, then. I'll leave. I'm walking away now…bye." And then she closed the door but remained in the room and crouched next to the hamper. Stitch poked his head out to see if the coast was clear and then Lilo grabbed him and yelled, "Gotcha!" Stitch gave a look that clearly showed that he was thinking, "Oh, darn it."

Lilo dragged him back to the bathroom and said, "If you cooperate, I promise that I won't drown you."

"You better not drown him, even if he doesn't cooperate." Mark threatened Lilo before spitting in the sink after brushing his teeth and left the bathroom. Stitch grabbed the toilet as they passed by it and broke the seat off accidentally. Stitch resisted so much that the bathroom began to flood, and the shell that they had won earlier opened up and an experiment pod labeled 375 came out of the oyster and was activated upon touching the water. After the bath was done, Lilo went upstairs to get her P.J.s on.

The recently activated experiment was a green phantom-like one. It flew into the kitchen, possessed an eggbeater, and caused it to tear the kitchen curtains down. Then the experiment possessed a batch of bananas, and caused them to cook themselves in the microwave. Stitch was drying himself when he heard the muffled explosion of bananas and went into the kitchen to check it out. Stitch saw a pile of dishes waver and then fall and ran over to catch them, extending his extra arms to catch all of the dishes. The experiment saw Stitch do this, sneered darkly and made the rug move itself from under Stitch's feet. Stitch slipped and the dishes came crashing down, alerting the whole house.

"What is going on in here!?" Nani shouted as she headed for the kitchen along with everybody else. Nani gasped and Pleakely said, "My dishes! The ones featuring in begonias of the world, available only in limited qualities! You broke them!" He pointed at Stitch when he said the last sentence. Stitch jumped up and said, "Nawaga! Naga cada gu!" Jumba translated, "Six-two-six claims dishes fall and break all by themselves."

"Not buying it Mr. Destructo! Go to your room!" Nani scolded Stitch. Stitch groaned, bowed his head sadly and began walking away when Mark suddenly said, "Hold on! Maybe the dishes didn't fall and break by themselves, but I know for a fact that Stitch didn't break them."

"Mark, we don't have time for this, he was caught in the act." Nani said. "No, actually he was caught after the act. But in case you didn't notice, the rug has been moved out of the way and is in such a position as if somebody pulled it from under Stitch's feet, and also, Stitch was under the dishes and on the floor, if he broke them, he would be on top of the counter where they were. My guess would be that Stitch caught the dishes but then somebody tripped him by pulling the rug from under his feet, and unable to keep his grasp on them, they fell and broke." Mark explained as he walked around the crime scene, everybody just stared at him when Lilo broke the silence by saying, "Mark's right. And if Stitch said that he didn't do it, then he didn't do it."

"Ok then, if he didn't do it then who did?" Nani asked them both. "I don't know." both Mark and Lilo answered. "But it must have been one of the experiments. Jumba, which experiment that you made was designed for chaos and would want to frame Stitch simply because he was good?" Mark asked Jumba, who simply answered, "Um…all of them."

"Oh…right." Mark said after hearing Jumba's answer. "Ugh, well I do know one thing. It's bed time. We'll talk about this in the morning." Nani said as she sent everyone to their rooms. "Don't worry, she probably had some bad pizza, she'll forget about it tomorrow." Lilo reassured Stitch. "Yeah Stitch, don't worry. I'll try to clear things up with her tomorrow." Mark reassured him as well.

Lilo and Stitch went up the elevator and Mark continued down the hall just as the new ghostly experiment poked out of the wall and laughed evilly. Late that night, everybody was asleep when the experiment took over Scrump and woke Stitch up as it went down the elevator. Stitch slipped into his alien form and followed it. Stitch saw just as Scrump turned around and went into the living room. Stitch only saw the blond hair and didn't know that the experiment had possessed Scrump. Stitch snuck to the corner and then turned around it quickly, growling, but all he saw was Scrump sitting next to Lilo's record player. Stitch went over to the doggy door and stuck his head out to see if the intruder had left recently.

Suddenly, Scrump turned on the record player and left the room immediately, taking a ride on the elevator again. Stitch turned off the music, heard the elevator moving and went to check on it when suddenly, it came speeding down and knocked Stitch out. The next morning, Nani screamed in horror, ran out of her room holding a mirror and one side of her face had a green streak on it as she cried, "Somebody painted me green!" An explosion occurred in Jumba and Pleakely's room. Jumba and Pleakely came running out and coughing as a thick cloud of smoke left the room behind them.

Jumba said, "Experiment-analyzer device is sabotaged!"

"And my begonia has been plant-napped! Oh the plant-amity!' Pleakely cried as he held his empty vase. Mark came running out of his room and pulled the last sleeve of his jacket on. "What happened? I heard an explosion!" Mark said as he looked around. After seeing the smoke coming from Jumba and Pleakely's room, he calmed down and said, "Oh, yeah. I'm surprised I'm not used to this by now. By the way, has anybody seen the book I wrote? The original copy was in its glass case last night and now it's gone."

Lilo came down the elevator, yawning and holding Scrump under one arm. "Whoa…that's a new look." Lilo said the minute she saw Nani's face. Nani glared at her as she said this. "Anybody seen Stitch?" Lilo asked as she looked around. Stitch groaned in the living room and everybody followed the sounds. Stitch lay in the living room with a flower in one hand, a paintbrush with green paint in the other. a broken record player, and an original copy of a book that was torn in half lay next to him and a face-down picture lay at his feet.

"Ebaka?" Stitch questioned as he saw the objects in his hands. "Why am I not surprised? Ugh! I don't have time for this today!" Nani said as she saw Stitch and the evidence that was lying around him and stormed out of the room to clean her face. Mark spotted the original copy of his book, shrugged, and said, "Well, at least I got it published."

"Six-two-six has been very bad, I am very proud." Jumba said as he smiled at Stitch. "How do you know that Stitch did it?" Both Lilo and Mark asked Jumba. "Anybody could have put a paintbrush in his hand and Pleakely's plant in the other hand. And ripped Mark's book and…" Lilo began before looking to her record player and said in a shocked tone, "…broke my record player!? And my _Hound Dog _single? But…Stitch wouldn't do that."

"I agree. I haven't been here all that long and even I know that Stitch wouldn't do those things." Mark said. He appreciated Lilo's loyalty to Stitch. "Yeah! Yeah, yeah, it's jabanaga!" Stitch said as Nani walked in the room. The green streak on her face was gone and she was brushing her teeth now. "I'm going to be late for work, this behavior has got to stop." Nani scolded Stitch.

Pleakely noticed the picture on the floor and walked up to it saying, "Hey someone dropped this picture." Pleakely picked up the picture, looked at it and said, "Why it's Stitch scrubbing his smelly alien toes with a purple toothbrush." Pleakely then laughed and said, "That's hilarious. Hey, which poor sucker has a purple toothbrush?" Nani looked in a disgusted way at the toothbrush she was brushing with…it was purple.

"Oh." Pleakely said when he saw Nani's toothbrush. Nani spit out her toothbrush and shouted at Stitch, "That's it!!!" She took Stitch and threw him in the back yard. "He stays outside 'till I get home." Nani said to Mark and Lilo. They were the only two there who would let Stitch in the house while she was away. "But Stitch said he didn't--" Lilo began but Nani interrupted and said demandingly, "Lilo, that's an order! And no 'buts' or I'll put you out with him." Then she turned to Mark and said, "And the same goes triple for you!"

"Don't you mean--" Mark began, but then Nani was true to her word as she grabbed Mark and threw him in the back yard too. "Whoa!! Oof…man, she's stronger than she looks." Mark said as he looked back at Nani, who looked at Lilo in a threatening way. "Fine." Lilo said harshly to her older sister. Nani walked away and once she was out of earshot, Lilo said to Mark and Stitch, "Don't worry guys. It'll be ok."

As Lilo slowly closed the door, Scrump smiled and laughed evilly under its breath. Mark looked at Stitch as he saw this and asked, "So that's what's been framing you? An experiment that's designed to possess objects?"

"Ih." Stitch answered Mark before looking back at the door and saying, "Whassa Miserable." Just as Mark said, "This is not good."

A while later, Lilo came out with a cardboard box and labeled it "Stitch house." She then turned to Stitch and Mark and said, "Just pretend you're camping out you two, when Nani gets home we'll fix everything."

"Larger girl said no visiting with prisoners six-two-six and Mark Car-person. They're being punished." Jumba informed Lilo. "Ok!" Lilo said angrily as she put a collar on Stitch and chained him to keep him outside. They didn't bother restraining Mark because they couldn't find anything that they thought would be able to hold him. Not to mention that he was only being punished for being a loyal friend to Stitch.

Stitch growled and attempted to bite through the chain but Lilo stopped him by saying, "Stitch, I know you can break out. I need you to show Nani that you're behaving." Stitch then took the chain out of his mouth and then Lilo continued, "If you don't then she's going to send all three of us to the town."

"Lilo, there's another--" Mark began but Lilo interrupted him and said, "We can't have a conversation, Mark. Nani said so." Mark scoffed and said, "Fine." Lilo went back in the house and set Scrump down next to the broken record player.

"Since the accident with the record player, I can't play my Elvis record, so…you and I are going to honor the king with a movie marathon, Scrump. A triple feature: Blue Hawaii, followed by Blue Hawaii, and then Blue Hawaii." Lilo was saying to Scrump, as she held the movie, a tree slid into view outside the window behind her. "Popcorn's ready!" Lilo suddenly said as she ran into the kitchen to retrieve it. Mark and Stitch took a peek in the window and Scrump looked around, glided over to the movies and began throwing them around. Mark reached for Scrump, but Scrump simply took one of the cassettes and smacked his hand with it. "Ow! What is with me today? This is something that would normally happen to Gantu." Mark said furiously as he shook the pain out of his hand.

Stitch growled, broke through the chain, went inside the house and attacked Scrump, who was now unwinding the video tapes. Scrump tried to get stitch off by bonking his head with a video tape a few times. "What's all the racket in there?" Lilo asked as she came into the room with a bowl of popcorn. "That sounded like--" She began but then she dropped it in surprise at the site that lay before her. Stitch saw her and spit Scrump out, knowing what it looked like. "Stitch not bad. Was scary dolly!" Stitch accused, pointing at Scrump. Mark entered the room through the front door but nobody seemed to notice him. "Scrump is very smart, Stitch. But she doesn't go around breaking plates and unspooling video tapes." Lilo told him. Scrump's eyebrows bounced up and down as Lilo said this and Stitch attacked Scrump again.

Jumba suddenly caught Stitch in a net and said, "Saw six-two-six sneaking in window. Had bad feeling that he was up to no good."

"Well, I don't believe Stitch is guilty. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and a fair trial." Lilo said proudly as she patted the captured alien. Jumba and Pleakely widened their eyes while Mark smiled at Lilo's determination to believe that Stitch was innocent. A while later, they had a family court, with Jumba as the Judge, Stitch as the Defendant, Lilo as his lawyer, Mark as his eyewitness and Pleakely as the persecutor.

"Court is being in session! Judge Jumba Jukiba presiding. Six-two-six is accused of all sorts of naughtiness and will be judged before a jury of peers." The jury was a bunch of stuffed animals. "How does experiment plead?" Jumba asked. "Not guilty, your honor!" Lilo answered. "We are ready for persecutor." Jumba announced and then Pleakely walked in the room with a box of evidence. "Your honor, my esteemed opponents, jury of toys, I will prove beyond reasonable doubt that defendant six-two-six is guilty of all heinous crimes with which he is charged."

Pleakely then pulled out his withered flower and said, "Exhibit A: My poor begonia plant, brutally pulled from its home."

"Objection!" Both Lilo and Mark shouted. Mark had forgotten that he wasn't playing the role of Stitch's lawyer, apologized, and let Lilo continue, "That plant was going to croak anyway." Lilo leaned over to Stitch and whispered, "All his plants do."

"Irrelevant! Your honor, playthings of the jury, my lack of skill in the botanical arts must not blind you to the evidence. Exhibit B: A paintbrush, used to paint a sleeping Nani, found in the defendant's possession!" Pleakely accused again as he pulled out the paint brush. "Objection! Someone probably put it there to frame Stitch. Where were _you_ last night, huh, Pleakely?" Lilo accused, pointing to Pleakely. "Me?" Pleakely asked in shock. Jumba banged his gavel and reminded that this was a fair trial.

Pleakely then had the record player as he continued the trial, "Exhibit c, your toynesses: A record player trampled mercilessly by the defendant!" Lilo and Stitch looked at each other and then Lilo said, "Objection! It…it could have gotten broken some other way…maybe? I call to the stand, defendant six-two-six." Stitch went up to the stand and Lilo held out a record case, stitch put his right hand on it, and raised his left hand as Lilo asked him, "Stitch, do you promise to tell the truth, all truth, and every little bit of the truth, just like the king of rock and roll?"

"Ih." Stitch answered. "Stitch, please tell the court in your own words. Did you do any of those bad things?" Lilo asked him. Stitch answered, "Robota gito."

"Six-two-six says he has no memory of crimes. He claims he was sleeping all during time." Jumba translated. "Now I call to the stand the eyewitness, Mark Nissan." Mark got up and switched places with Stitch. Lilo asked him the same thing as he put his right hand on the record cover and raised his left hand. "I do." Mark answered without hesitation. "Mark Nissan, please tell the court, in your own words. What exactly did you see?" Lilo asked him. "Well, when Nani so gratefully threw me out of the house and just before Lilo here closed the door, I saw Scrump smile evilly through the crack. It was then that I realized that an experiment designed to possess objects must have been recently activated and has been framing the defendant this whole time."

Mark then turned to Jumba and asked, "Your honor, have you created an experiment with these capabilities?"

"Of course, experiment three-seven-five: designed to possess inanimate objects and create utter chaos. Heh, heh, heh, one of Jumba's most ingenious evil ideas." Jumba answered. "The defense rests." Lilo said confidently before sticking her tongue out at Pleakely, who shouted the minute he saw this, "She's in contempt your honor!"

"Am not, this is my house. I can do whatever I want." Lilo stated. "Little girl has point. Proceed with cross-examination." Jumba said.

"You better believe it'll be cross!" Pleakely said harshly. "Mark Nissan, you claim you saw Scrump, the doll sitting right there in the jury smile evilly just as Lilo closed the door. Nice alibi, I'm being sarcastic. Of course, you haven't been yourself today in case you didn't notice, you were thrown out of the house by an adult female being. Oh yes, she is a part of your family and you wouldn't fight back, but isn't it possible that something could be wrong with your head? That maybe you imagined the whole thing?" Pleakely asked Mark.

"Well, yes. It is possible. As much as I take care of my body both inside and out, I am just as vulnerable to viruses and much as everybody else is. And while I admit I seemed to have lowered in my skill level today, that has nothing to do with what I saw. The defendant saw it too, and both the defendant and I saw Scrump unwinding the tapes. If I imagined that, then so did an experiment, who, I may remind you, is indestructible." Mark answered smartly. "Be that as it may, the defendant was caught in the act at least on one account wasn't he?" Pleakely slyly asked. "What are you talking about?" Mark asked suspiciously.

Then Pleakely held up the picture and showed it to the Jury as he said, "Exhibit D! Perhaps Stitch would like to explain this photograph clearly revealing him using Nani's toothbrush to scrub his putrid purple toes."

"Just off the record, the defendant's toes are blue, not purple." Mark corrected. "Whatever." Pleakely replied as he rolled his eyes. A while later, Pleakely walked up to the jury and began asking questions to the defendant's lawyer, showing the damage done to the Jury that Stitch had done on past accounts. "Wasn't it defendant six-two-six who chewed off the arm of Mr. fluffy bear here?"

"Objection! I sewed it back on." Lilo said in Stitch's defense. Pleakely continued, "And how about Little Susie tea party, anybody seen her head? I haven't because it's gone!"

"Objection! Stitch didn't mean to eat her head, it was a freak accident, he was…accidentally hungry." Lilo tried to explain, but even that sounded like a weak defense to her. "Accident? Minutes ago, poor little Scrump was involuntarily admiring the defendant's dental work!" Pleakely said, pointing a finger at Stitch. Once again, both Mark and Lilo said at the same time, "Objection!"

"I thought we cleared this up Pleakely. Scrump was being possessed by a recently activated experiment that was designed to--" Mark began, but Pleakely interrupted him, saying, "You are an eyewitness and are, therefore, not authorized to give objections." Mark wanted to argue, but there was no point. The eyewitness never had the authority to call for an objection, only the lawyer did. As Lilo said her objection, Mark and Stitch looked at Scrump suspiciously. Scrump turned its head and raised its eyebrow at Stitch.

Stitch attacked it and Lilo separated them. Mark grabbed his hair in fear, he knew that this would not be good for the case. "Stop!!" Nani suddenly shouted from the front door and everyone froze as they looked at her. "Someone, any one…you!" She said pointing to Jumba before she pointed to Stitch and continued, "What's happening with him?"

"Hard to say, maybe Six-two-six is reverting back to old ways, becoming monster again." Jumba answered.

"A relapse! Oh no, my begonias can't take it!" Pleakely shouted before taking his plant, stroking it, and saying, "Happy thoughts, think happy thoughts."

"So what do we do?" Nani asked Jumba. A while later, Jumba put Stitch in a glass ball that scanned his body. "Analyzer computer will probe every aspect of six-two-six. If he is going back to old ways, we'll soon find out." Jumba said as Stitch began pounding on the glass, trying to get free.

"Test takes few hours Six-two-six, you'll be staying in there. Be back soon." Jumba said as he walked away. "Jumba's only going to make sure that Stitch is alright." Nani told Lilo with a reassuring voice. Tears filled Lilo's eyes as she saw Stitch trapped in the glass ball. Mark wasn't happy about this. He had tried to tell everybody what was going on, but nobody would seem to listen to him.

"I gotta get back to work. Maybe I'll bring a pizza when I get back." Nani suggested, Scrump smiled evilly at Stitch over Lilo's shoulder as Lilo said, "I guess it's just you and me, Scrump." Stitch sat down and groaned as he saw Lilo walk away with the one who had framed him for everything. Stitch looked and the picture and gasped in surprise as he saw that in the very corner of the picture, the bathroom mirror managed to give off the reflection of Scrump holing a camera.

Back in the house, once night had fallen, Lilo asked Jumba and Pleakely if they'd seen Scrump. "Uh, no, not seen makeshift rag doll. Am watching repaired movie of king now." Jumba said as Pleakely got up, and started trying to dance. "How does he move his hips like that?" Pleakely asked as he tried to dance like Elvis. Lilo went upstairs and saw Scrump pulling on a table cloth to ruin Pleakely's plant again.

"Scrump?" Lilo questioned. When Scrump heard her, the doll turned it's head to her and fell to the floor, hoping that she didn't see it move. "Oh no you don't! I saw you. You can stand up and everything and you broke Pleakely's plant!" Lilo accused. Suddenly, three-seven-five flew out of Scrump. "You're a ghost…a phantasmo or something!" Lilo said before the experiment possessed a rope near the window and used it to tie Lilo up as she tried to make a run for it. "Little stinker!" Lilo scolded the experiment. Mark, Jumba, and Pleakely came up to the room.

"My begonia!" Pleakely shouted. "Little girl should not be playing with rope." Jumba said as he walked into the room. Then the rope tied Jumba, Mark, Pleakely, and Lilo together and Pleakely said, "I think it's the rope that's doing the playing."

"Ya think?" Mark asked sarcastically. The experiment flew out of the rope and Jumba was about to shout in discovery when Mark said, "I told you guys what was going on. So much for being an evil genius Jumba, I figured it all out this morning, but you guys didn't seem to want to listen to me."

"Well sorry. But with your constant sarcasm, we really don't like hearing it anyway." Pleakely told Mark. "Hey!" Mark shouted, glaring at Pleakely. "What?" Pleakely asked cluelessly. The experiment took possession of Scrump again and Pleakely asked Jumba, "What does it want?" Jumba answered, "Three-seven-five has advanced programming. Now that we have learned his secret, he'll probably get rid of us." As Jumba said this, Scrump got a blaster ready and aimed it at the four of them.

"Don't worry. The weapon is only loaded with net." Jumba informed them. Scrump, apparently, heard him, took the net out and replaced it with a laser cartridge. Upon seeing this, Jumba said proudly, "Ha! He has replaced net with my new laser cartridge! I am so proud of his smartness."

"Way to go genius! Now, because of you, we're all going to be vaporized…or something similar!" Mark said to Jumba harshly. "I'm just going to faint…I'm too terrified to faint. How about if I just scream?" Pleakely said before he screamed in terror.

Scrump began walking toward them, aiming the blaster at them and laughing evilly. Mark suddenly cut through the ropes with the blades on his EMP cannons, slid on the ground, kicked the blaster out of Scrump's hands, caught it, and disarmed it in a matter of seconds. "Whoa Mark…way to bring back you're a-game." Lilo said proudly to her foster brother as she pushed the cut ropes off of her. Scrump back up toward the window when Stitch's voice yelled, "Makka the family! Chubi Ciba!!" Stitch jumped from the window and attacked Scrump again, and this time, nobody even bothered to stop him.

Scrump scowled at Stitch and then smirked before three-seven-five flew out of the doll and went through a wall. Stitch and the others went after it. Before they left the room, Lilo hugged Stitch and said, "I knew you weren't all bad." Mark re-armed the blaster with the net and gave it to Stitch. As they went down the stairs, Stitch was clearly ready as he constantly held the gun in a ready position. The lights suddenly went off when they were halfway down the stairs and a scared Pleakely said, "You know, I think I'll just wait upstairs under the covers, ok?" as he walked up the stairs.

Mark, Lilo, and Stitch were checking rooms at this point, but there was no sign of three-seven-five. A possessed vacuum cleaner waited for him and began sucking in his head. The struggling Pleakely cause the vacuum to tumble down the stairs and knock Jumba off the last two set of stairs. After a few more moments of resisting, Pleakely got it off his head, which thinned out and made him look even more noodle-like. "My head! My beautiful cranial orb!" Pleakely shouted as he rubbed his head, but it eventually popped back into its original shape.

Three-seven-five left the possessed vacuum. Lilo spotted him and shouted to Stitch, "There he is!" Stitch shot the net at the experiment, but Three-seven-five was ghostly and the net went right through him and trapped Jumba and Pleakely instead. Three-seven-five flew into the kitchen, but Lilo saw his plan and went to the living room. Mark and Stitch followed the experiment but before Mark went into the kitchen, he said to Jumba and Pleakely, "You two, stay here!" And then went into the room. "Um, we can't move Mark." Pleakely informed, and then Jumba said, "Pleakely, I think Mark was making the fun of our position."

"Oh…" Pleakely said.

Three-seven-five went for the front door, but Lilo was ready for him with an experiment capsule. Surprised, the experiment stopped in his tracks. "Gotcha, trouble maker!" Lilo said as she slammed the experiment capsule down on Three-seven-five, who simply flew through the top and then out the door behind Lilo. Lilo opened the door and saw as the experiment flew out of view. Mark, Lilo, and Stitch went for the dune buggy and drove after the experiment. After a few minutes of searching, Lilo said, "I don't see him."

Suddenly, a stop light came to life and launched coconuts at the vehicle. Stitch turned the dune buggy around and Lilo said, "Follow that stop light." as it ran away from them. Stitch chased the stoplight for a moment and ran it over. The experiment left the stop light and took over a tiki decoration. The tiki ran into a alley and tripped over a trash can. The dune buggy was following it close behind and shot some sort of anti-ectoplasmic substance at the tiki. The experiment struggled to get past the substance as Lilo walked over to it and said, "No getting away this time. Come on outta there."

"Lilo, it's an anti-ectoplasmic substance, the only way he can get out is to go through the--" Mark began but stopped right there as he remembered Jumba's mistake. However, the experiment already knew what to do before Mark even said anything and the substance no longer showed signs of struggle. "I'm getting a bad feeling…" Lilo said. "Ih." Stitch agreed just as the dune buggy turned itself on. "Oh no." Mark said worriedly as he knew that he was in for a ride.

Lilo and Stitch ran out of the alley and the dune buggy chased them ruthlessly and Mark hung on for dear life. Mark slid into the drivers seat and tried to turn the steering wheel but to no success. Stitch grabbed Lilo and quickly climbed up a wall and over a small building. When they reached the ground all they saw were the headlights and began to run away when Nani's voice called out, "Lilo!" Jumba, Pleakely, Nani, and even Mark were heading toward her in Nani's car.

Lilo didn't bother to ask how Mark got from the runaway dune buggy to Nani's car. She knew that he had his own way of getting around. "This is one of those rare moments when I like to hear my sister yelling at me." Lilo told Stitch as they both headed to the car. "So, I hear that there's an experiment out there that takes over inanimate objects?" Nani asked them as she drove around a bit, trying to find the runaway vehicle. "Yup. Makes it look like other _innocent_ experiments did bad stuff when they didn't do anything wrong at all." Lilo told her sister, who guiltily replied, "Ok, I get it. My bad."

"Guys, we have company!" Mark alerted his family from the roof of the car. Lilo looked in the passenger side mirror and saw the dune buggy chasing them, firing the anti-ectoplasmic substance at them as they drove down the street. "Would someone tell me what this experiment wants?" Nani asked. "He's never had a home because he's always jumping from place to place and I think he craves attention, that's why he liked being in Scrump." Lilo said when both her and Mark got an idea and said at the same time, "That's it! Make a left here!"

Nani followed both of their orders and eventually, they arrived at the Macki Macaw's restaurant. As Nani stopped, Mark slid on the roof of the car, flipped onto the hood and then jump-flipped off of the car and in front of the restaurant's door. The rest of his family followed in a not-so-fancy fashion and went in the restaurant as the experiment caught up with them, flew out of the car and followed them inside.

Lilo and Stitch went over to the prize grabber machine while Mark went backstage as he came up with a plan to keep Three-seven-five's existence hidden. The experiment took over the prize grabber, made the claw grab Stitch and stuffed him in the machine and then the experiment flew out of the machine and went for Lilo, who ran away. Lilo ran behind the stage with Mark, the show didn't start yet, but the kids were eager to see it. A child walked up to the machine and saw Stitch looking out of it and was about to put a quarter in when the blue alien went out through the prize receiver and headed for the stage.

The experiment saw the mechanical bird and possessed it. The experiment flew around, trying to determine which of the three it should attack first. Lilo ran up to the curtain controls and started the show right on time. The curtains opened and the robotic bird smiled happily, not evilly, as it saw so many kids cheering for it. "They love you! Isn't this better than causing chaos? How about we make this your home?" Lilo said to the robotic bird. "Yeah! Nigoba, nakachuba!" Stitch said encouragingly and Mark simply said, "As long as you're not framing anybody, I'm fine with it."

The bird strummed the guitar it was holding, the kids cheered even more and the show began on it's own accord. The robotic bird was now flying through the crowd as it played it's guitar. "Again, Little girl and Mark Car-person have found one place where experiment is beloved." Jumba said in awe. "Yeah, they're good, even if Mark is a little annoying." Pleakely said. Nani looked guilty as she walked up to the three and said, "I owe all three of you an apology. I'll try to listen to you from now on, Mark. And innocent until proven guilty, I'm old enough to know that. I'm sorry."

Lilo whispered in Stitch's ear and Stitch smiled as Lilo told Nani, "Ok, we'll forgive your behavior on one condition." Stitch finished for her, "Nani buys games and pizza." Nani chuckled and said, "I guess that's fair." She handed stitch the money and looked at Mark who said, "Don't look at me, I just have to know you're sorry and I'll forgive you." The waiter walked up to Mark and said, "Wow, you're pure genius. How'd you get it to fly around like that?" Jumba opened his mouth to answer, but Mark went along with his own plan and said, "Now, now, you know I don't give away the secrets behind my skillful nature."

Jumba crossed his arms and glared at Mark for taking all the credit for his experiment. The waiter chuckled in defeat in walked away. "So…what is the secret behind your skillful nature, Mark?" Nani asked him. Mark simply answered, "Vigorous training, good health…" And he stroked Stitch's head as he finished, "…and you guys, my new Ohana."


	5. Chapter 5: Without Lilo and Stitch

-1There was a knock at the door and Mark Nissan entered the room. "Hi mom, I'm home." Were the first words he said. A sweet looking woman with short brown hair had answered back to him in her kind voice, "Alright Mark. Dinner will be ready in a few hours."

"Dinner? It's nine o'clock…in the morning!" Mark told her in a calm yet surprised tone. She laughed and told him, "I am aware of that, but it doesn't hurt to plan ahead. You, of all people, should know that, Mr. strategist."

"Heh, I guess your right. I'm fine with dinner, as long as it's not haggis again." Mark said to her. He was, unusually, not sarcastic or rude at all.

"Sweetheart, only your father would eat that stuff. No, I'm cooking catfish. I know you like seafood delicacies." This, was completely untrue. Mark hated seafood, but he never liked to criticize his mother's cooking. The only thing he'd admit that he didn't like was haggis. "That's great, mom. I got to get ready for another interview though, Kauai's going crazy over what I'm capable of."

"Yeah, this island sure has gotten even crazier about you ever since the CIA actually said that you were too skilled for them."

There was suddenly another knock at the door and a happy, but serious looking man entered and took off his beret, revealing his bald head. He kissed his wife, he didn't even notice his son who was still leaning against the kitchen wall right next to them. "Jeffery, not while I'm cooking. You know how I'm afraid of accidentally setting the house on fire." Mark's mother scolded the man. "Well, it's not like the miracle child can't get us out before we get seriously hurt."

"Don't call him that! He's your son and his name is Mark. Not the miracle child! Honestly, sometimes I think he's got the right idea to be so mad at you."

"Mark, wake up." another woman's voice came to his ears and all faded to darkness. Mark opened his eyes and he was in a different house, looking into Lilo's eyes. "What?" Mark asked her drowsily. "Nani says time for breakfast, it's nine in the morning."

"Oh…well, I'll be right down."

"You ok? You know, people talk in their sleep when they dream of a past event, and you're no exception."

"What?!" Mark asked in a shocked tone. How much did she hear? "Something about your parents and a…catfish." Lilo said to him as if she read his thoughts. Mark shook his head and nudged her to the door. Getting the message, she turned and left the room. He massaged his head, trying to convince himself to let his old family go once again. This was his new Ohana now, they weren't better, but they defiantly weren't worse. Mark got his regular outfit on and got ready for the day that lay ahead of him.

A few hours later Lilo and Stitch went over to the dune buggy and started playing a game of Wasp Mummies while Jumba was working on the same vehicle. "The fearless exterminator has nearly escaped from the hive of the wasp mummies. Oh no!" Lilo said as she turned the inactive vehicle's steering wheel. Stitch climbed on the top of the vehicle and growled as he flapped his ears like a pair of wings. "A wasp mummy is buzzing up behind me." Lilo said as she saw Stitch in the mirror. Stitch jumped on the steering wheel and licked Lilo, who then said, "Eww! The dreaded lick of the wasp mummy!"

Stitch laughed insanely as he played with the steering wheel. Lilo grabbed it and said, "If I can just make it into that cloud of bug spray." Stitch then fell to the bottom of the vehicle and pretended to cough. "My only hope is to engage the afterburner." Lilo said. "Eh, don't pull on--" Jumba began but was stopped as his face was then splattered in oil as Stitch flipped the switch underneath the steering wheel. "Jumba, the afterburner's busted again." Lilo told him as the oil-covered Jumba ripped off his goggles and said, "Will put on evil to-do list."

"You seriously need to consider to stop using the word 'evil' in every single sentence, Jumba." Mark suggested to him as he sat on the porch, wearing his shades and reading a store-bought copy of his book since Phantasmo ruined his original copy. "And Jumba thinks Mark Car-person should be stopping with the sarcasm." Jumba irritably said to Mark. "Touché." Mark replied. "Ooh! While you're at it can you install robot legs so I can reach the pedals? I want to drive." Lilo asked Jumba as she grabbed the steering wheel. "The law has an age requirement for that Lilo, and you're too young." Mark informed her as he turned a page. "Mark Car-person is right. You are too young to pilot motor vehicle." Jumba agreed.

"Please! I promise I won't crash into anything." Lilo begged them both. "Sorry. Little girl will have to wait until she is bigger." Jumba told Lilo, who crossed her arms and said, "Kids never get to have any fun. I…WANT…TO…GROW…UP…NOW!!!" Lilo shouted as she pounded on the horn. The sound waves knocked Jumba back while Mark calmly turned another page. "Must also install silent car horn." Jumba said weakly. "Just take the horn part out, problem solved." Mark told Jumba.

A few minutes later, Lilo and Stitch were in Jumba and Pleakely's room. Stitch curled up into a ball, dropped from the bed he was laying on, and began to roll around. "Pleakely, will you take us to see Wasp Mummies 3?" Lilo asked Pleakely who carried a huge pile of books across the room as he answered, "No time, Lilo. Not time. I've discovered my life's ambition thank you very much." Lilo sighed and asked him dully, "What is it this time?"

"I'm going to be a world famous Earth fashion designer!" Pleakely shouted in excitement as he went to go get even more books.

"But that takes years of study to be a fashion designer." Lilo told him. "Exactly! I'm locking myself in this room until I know everything there is to know about current Earth fashion trends." Pleakely explained his plan as he opened a book titled: "Fashion and You" and read aloud, "Chapter one: From Paisley to Paris." Stitch rolled back to Lilo and stopped as she said, "Well, we'll leave you to your studies and go see Wasp Mummies 3 ourselves."

"Not so fast. Nani says you're too young to see PG movies, and Mark's drivers license has been taken away after that little stunt he pulled yesterday. I still can't believe that he managed to get Nani's car to fly eighty feet across a destroyed bridge, and then get out just before the car became severely damaged. And all that just to save five elderly earthlings. I tell ya, I'll never understand that guy." Pleakely said to Lilo, speeding up at the last few words and then catching his breath as he finished. Lilo only cared about the first part and said, "Too young!? Ugh…fine! We'll just make up our own movie." and both she and Stitch walked out of the room.

That night, Lilo put on pillow armor and a turban. "Lilotron four thousand, extreme exterminator, steels herself for battle." Lilo said as she slid in front of the door. Stitch then came up the stairs, growling and playing with four sock puppets. "The king of the wasp mummies wasn't counting on her secret weapon: Bug zapper soft balls!" Lilo said before bombarding Stitch with softballs. Stitch fell over the railing and fell into a bush. Lilo looked over the railing to make sure that Stitch was ok. He showed that he was as he smiled at her.

"Lilo, time for you to come in." Nani's voice said from inside. "Ah, stupid curfew." Lilo groaned before entering the house. "You know the rules, 7:00 means you're in the house." Nani said as she got ready to go out. "But wasp mummies are nocturnal!" Lilo explained before she continued, "I don't see what the big deal is." Both she and Nani left the room, Stitch went over to the mirror, took Nani's lipstick, and looked at it in thought. "I just don't like you being out after dark." Nani explained to Lilo, who complained, "But you're going out after dark."

"That's right, but I'm older than you. When you're my age, you can stay out late too." Nani explained to her little sister. "But that's, like, a hundred years from now! I can't wait that long!" Lilo complained. "Exactly how old do you think I am?" Nani asked Lilo. "Well, not as old as Lilo's suggesting…what are we talking about?" Mark said to Nani as he entered the room. "Where have you been?" Nani asked him in a scolding tone. "Fixing the dune buggy so that you'd have a ride." Mark answered. Upon hearing these words her harsh, scolding look turned to surprise and thankful as she said apologetically, "Oh…sorry, I guess I got a little carried away."

"Ah, don't worry. It happens. Anyway, speaking of age, I'll be 18 next week."

"What?" Nani asked in shock. "Yeah, and the anniversary of when we met will be in two weeks. You didn't know? The whole island celebrates my birthday every year. Everyone knows it, it's almost like an official holiday here on Kauai." Mark said to them. They both stood in pure shock and awe as they took in the last minute news. "Hard to believe you've had to put up with me for an entire year. Well, see you guys tomorrow." And with that, he headed up to his room.

As if nothing had just happened, Lilo then, suddenly, said, "Old enough to have all the fun. I can't drive, I can't go to the movies, I can't stay out late--"

"Lilo slow down." Nani said to Lilo. She had almost forgotten what they were talking about. "If you spend your whole life wishing you were older, one day you'll find that your whole life has gone by."

"My whole life is going by now!" Lilo said to her sister. "Maybe you should get some rest. Doesn't someone have a big day of experiment hunting tomorrow?" Nani said. "Oh…yeah. Come on, Stitch, it looks like we're immature to do anything except save the world from certain destruction." Lilo said as she walked to her room before poking her head in the living room one last time and saying, "Again!"

Meanwhile, on the asteroid prison where Hamsterviel was being held, The messenger sent a hovering device to his cell. "Dr. Hamsterwheel?" The messenger asked. "It's Hamster_**viel**_! Veal like the delicious thank you, bureaucratic imprisoning person!" The gerbil corrected the messenger. "But here it's spelled Hamsterwheel."

"No, no! Get it right! Change it, change it!"

"Very well, Dr. Hamster_viel_. The parole board has looked over your files."

"And you are releasing me from this stinking prison so that I may rise up against you and take over the universe?" Hamsterviel asked. "No. Actually we're doubling your sentence, cutting your TV time in half and removing the free popcorn cart from the break room."

"What!?" Hamsterviel asked angrily. "Oh, and here's a note: Hope you're enjoying prison. Don't expect to get out anytime soon. Ha, ha, ha. Regards, Parole Board." And with that, the hovering device flew away and closed the cell door behind him.

"So, that is the game you want to play, huh? Ach nach glach gaga!" Hamsterviel said as the hovering device was out of hearing range. Upon saying those last few ridiculous words, a computer voice said, "Dr. Hamsterwheel detention code override sequence activated."

"Hamster_VIEL_!" The gerbil corrected the computer. The cell then transformed into Hamsterviel's own personal office.

"Gantu!!" Hamsterviel called out through a communication screen. "Sir, yes sir!" Gantu said in a saluting position, he was wearing a cooking outfit this time. "Speak up when I am talking down to you!" Hamsterviel ordered as the communication screen pressed against Gantu's face as if the gerbil was really there. The screen backed up a bit and Hamsterviel asked, "How many experiments have you caught so far?"

"Eh…how many?" Gantu questioned nervously. "That is a good question. You see, I've been telling him to do some kind of inventory." Six-two-five said to Hamsterviel. Gantu threw one of his oven mitts at him but the experiment ducked and tisked at Gantu. Gantu turned back to Hamsterviel and said, "Let's see here: The brown one, the pink one, the little green one--that's three."

"That one who's hair is always clogging the sink." Six-two-five added. Gantu pointed to him and said, "Right" before continuing, "and the one with the two things that goes 'zzt'!" Gantu put two fingers next to his head, suggesting that the experiment he was talking about had antennae. "I've caught um…some." Gantu finished as he tried to count with the three large alien fingers he had on each hand. "Some!? Oh, and how many does the little girl and the ridiculously talented adolescent man have?" Hamsterviel asked. "Eh um…more." Gantu answered regrettably.

"I must have all! Or, at the very least, most!" Hamsterviel scolded his henchman. "I know it's taking a while sir, but I can do better." Gantu quickly said. Hamsterviel scoffed and commanded, "You will capture all the experiments, even if it takes you another ten years!" Hamsterviel then signed off. "Oh brother. Another ten years of this?" Six-two-five complained as he dipped his sandwich in a pot of melted cheese and finished it.

The next day Mark, Lilo, and Stitch went over to the animal shelter. "Sorry Lilo, no stray dogs this week." The shelter woman said to her. "They don't have to be just dogs. It can be anything that breaths fire, spits acid, or maybe anything that reminds you of Stitch." Lilo said to her. The woman's eyes glanced over to Stitch, who was purring and nudging against Mark's hand as Mark was stroking him.

"Well, it's not a dog, but somebody brought this little guy in yesterday." The woman said before pulling out a cage from under her desk. Inside the cage was a cute experiment that had a purple body and a few glowing green spots on its head. "Weird enough for you?" The woman asked Lilo in a slightly amused tone. "Plenty." Lilo answered. A few minutes later, they returned to the house to determine which experiment it was. However, Pleakely was keeping Jumba busy as he was making a dress and used Jumba as a fitting device.

"How much longer am I having to wear this--this." Jumba began but sneezed and continued, "Evil genius is allergic to taffeta." Pleakely tried to say something, but he was muffled as he held a piece of the cloth in his mouth. Stitch let the experiment out of the cage and Lilo gave him some food and asked Jumba, "So what exactly makes this little fella so dangerous?"

"During evil days, Jumba too impatient to wait for microwave to reheat leftovers. I make zero-eight-nine so I could skip ahead ten minutes."

"Aliens have microwaves?" Mark asked, but everyone seemed to be ignoring him again. "So what happened?" Lilo asked him. "Heek! Big mistake. I put burrito in microwave, activated experiment and boom! Ten years go by." Jumba answered Lilo. "Aliens have burritos?" Mark asked and, once again, everybody ignored him. "So he skips ten years huh? Well, I guess we better go find his one true place." Lilo said as she took the experiment with her and headed to her room. Mark didn't follow her, he had work to do now that he knew what the experiment was capable of.

"The way I see it is this, if I ask Nani, she'll say no…but if I skip ahead ten years, then I'll be old enough and I won't have to ask permission." Lilo said to Stitch. Stitch looked a little disagreeing with Lilo's theory but chose not to say anything against her. Lilo took the experiment with her and said, "Stay next to me, Stitch, so you'll skip too. Here we go." Lilo pushed the large button on the top of his head. The experiment went slightly transparent, there was a flash of light and the next thing they knew, Lilo was a teenager and the date was ten years away from their origin.

Lilo was completely wierded out by the change in her voice and kept trying to get used to it. Stitch looked at himself in the mirror that Lilo was standing in front of, turned to Skip, and asked, "Ichi nawa?" The experiment just smiled sweetly at them. Stitch's appearance hadn't changed at all. "You look exactly the same. I guess genetic experiments age differently than humans." Lilo said to him before checking herself out some more. Stitch lowered his ears sadly and groaned. He felt left out at the growing process.

"Maybe you can grow a goatee, that'll make you look older." Lilo suggested, trying to make him feel better. Lilo then thought about it and said, "I kind of look like…Nani." Then she gasped and remembered her older sister. "Uh-oh." Stitch said to her when he remembered too. They both took the lift down into the hallway and snuck to the corner. The sounds of someone sweeping the house reached their ears. Lilo shushed Stitch to remind him to keep quiet as she peeked around the corner. Nani had her back turned and was sweeping the floor.

Even from the back, you could see that everything about Nani's appearance seemed a little different, her hair was a different style, she looked a little skinnier than she used to as well. Lilo stepped into the hall and said, "Nani?" Upon hearing that familiar voice, she stopped, and turned around in hope. Nani gasped and dropped the broom. Tears filled her eyes as she saw her younger sister at last after ten years and replied, "Lilo…you're back!" before running up to and hugging her.

Nani had then snapped back into her usual self and scolded, "You are in ten years of trouble young lady!"

"Let me go!" Lilo demanded as she tried to get herself free from Nani's grasp. "Oh no, I've been waiting ten years to yell at you for this!" Nani scolded some more. Lilo shouted and finally managed to slip free from Nani's grip and ran back to the lift with Stitch. "Yeah, you go to your room! You are super extra grounded!"

"You can't ground me, I'm not a kid anymore." Lilo protested.

"Neither was Mark when he was seventeen! And even he accepted punishment. You are still my little sister and I still make the rules." Nani said as she chased her sister to the elevator. Lilo went up the lift with Stitch and said, "This is why I skipped ten years in the first place, so that you'd stop treating me like a child." Nani shook her fist at the lift and replied, "I'll stop treating you like a child when you stop acting like one." A little while later, Nani seemed to have calmed down as she came up to the room with a sandwich.

"Lilo, I brought you lunch. You must be hungry if you haven't eaten in ten years." Nani offered politely, Lilo turned away and replied harshly, "I'm old enough to make my own lunch now!" Nani sighed and said, "I guess I forgot what it was like to be in a hurry to grow up, I've been spending most of my time wishing I could go back to being a kid." Nani said. Lilo replied, "There's nothing good about being a kid." Nani just looked at her and said simply, "You'll understand when you're older."

"I'm sorry I mysteriously disappeared for ten years." Lilo apologized. "And I'm sorry I still treat you like a kid, I only lived with an obnoxious teenager for a year, then he became an adult. Speaking of which, Mark has been waiting ten years to see you two again, he really hasn't been himself for these last ten years. He hasn't trained, he didn't even say one sarcastic remark since you two have been away. I know it's hard to believe but…I actually wish he was back to his old self."

"Mark's been waiting this whole time?" Lilo asked Nani. Stitch looked incredibly interested, he had almost forgotten that Mark didn't go with them in the time skip. "Yeah, he's out shopping again. I tell you, that guy has enough money to keep us going for another 70 years." Nani answered. "Can we go see what the town's like when we go see him?" Lilo asked Nani, who replied, "I guess so. But you aren't going out in this are you?" Nani said as she took a piece of Lilo's sleeve. At that moment, Pleakely finally left his room and announced, "I did it! I read everything there is to know on fashion! And it only took me…ten years." Pleakely was also surprised to see Lilo.

Pleakely dressed Lilo in a yellow dress, a huge yellow hat with a red band around it, a purple fake fur scarf, and purple shades. "Boy did you come to the right place. Island casual is so passé." Pleakely said as he was sizing out her clothing. "Are you sure this is 'in'?" Lilo asked him as she checked out her cloths. "You think I'd spend ten years reading these books and not know what's in style?" Pleakely asked Lilo as he threw the scarf on her and rested against the many piles of books.

"Oh hubba, hubba! Kacheefa!" Stitch commented as Lilo checked herself out in the bedroom mirror. Jumba reached into his pocket, pulled out a key and said, "Here are keys to buggy." Lilo reached for them but held them out of her reach and continued, "Make sure you turn on alarm before you park it." Jumba then lowered them into her reach, she took them and said, "Thanks." She walked out of the room as Stitch played with the scarf hanging from her neck. "Come on Stitch, let's go see Mark." She said as she left the house.

A while later, a cop pulled Lilo over before they even got the chance to head into town. "May I see your license please?" The cop asked Lilo, who cluelessly repeated, "My…license?" Lilo then remembered what it was and said, "I guess I kind of missed out on getting one." Stitch smiled innocently, and hoped that the cop would let them go scot-free. However, the cop said, "Well, you're not missing out on tickets." And began shoving various traffic tickets into Lilo's hands. "And that one is a repair order, your brake light's out." The cop finished as she handed Lilo the last ticket.

They managed to make it to the theatre. The main movie playing was the second part of the final chapter of the Wasp mummies series. "I guess we missed out on a few sequels." Lilo commented on the subject. Lilo and Stitch went up to the theatre and a hideous looking teenager with a fat nose and a chubby face came out, laughed at Lilo and said, "That is the ugliest outfit I've ever seen."

"Myrtle? It's me, Lilo." Lilo said as she took her sunglasses off. "Weird-lo? From when we were kids? Well, that certainly explains your ridiculous get-up." Myrtle insulted in her usual snobby tone. "Oh, Myrtle Edmunds, are you bothering people again? My goodness, your cousin had better manners than you did." A man behind Lilo said to her. Lilo turned around and the man seemed to recognize her immediately. "Lilo? Stitch?"

"Mark!" Stitch said happily before hugging the him.

Mark didn't look too different, his hair was still neatly combed and his outfit didn't change that much either. The main difference was that he was taller and had full facial hair. "Um, sorry cousin Mark. I promise that I'll try not to do it again." Myrtle apologized to him in a rather fearful tone. "Cousin Mark?" Lilo and Stitch asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I grew up and married Myrtle's cousin, she's nothing like the rest of the Edmunds family. She doesn't care who or what is weird, and she's not as snobby as the others are." Mark answered. Myrtle then pointed to Lilo's car and said, "Looks like you have a ticket." Myrtle then walked away as Mark, Lilo, and Stitch looked at the dune buggy. There was a ticket pinned between the window and the windshield wiper.

"Oh man, please don't tell me that Jumba actually let you drive without a license." Mark complained, but Lilo was more upset about the ticket and said, "Oh no!" Lilo chased down the traffic officer and said, "Hey, parking guy! You can't give me this! We were--" Lilo began but all three of them gasped in shock as they saw a gerbil poke his head out of the traffic control vehicle. "I am sorry, but there is nothing I can--" Hamsterviel began but then Lilo grabbed him and asked, "Hamsterviel, what are you doing out of prison?"

"Indeed, last I heard they doubled your sentence to 50 years." Mark added on. Lilo and Stitch looked at him. "He's a member of the Galactic Armada now, he knows everything apparently, except what he doesn't know is that I'm on parole!" Hamsterviel explained. "Who would be dumb enough to parole you?" Both Mark and Lilo asked the gerbil. "I am now a reformed productively-producing member of society!" Hamsterviel said to them both before snapping a defensive device at Lilo's hand, causing her to drop him and walking to his vehicle.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a quota to meet. Goodbye!" Hamsterviel continued before driving off. Mark glared after him and commented, "I don't trust him. And after the Bonnie and Clyde incident, you guys should know that my instincts are usually right about who to and not to trust." They both nodded. Meanwhile, as Hamsterviel turned out of view, he said, "Whew, that was a close one."

Hamsterviel then turned on a communicator watch and Gantu's face appeared on the other end. "Yes sir, Doctor Hamsterviel?" He answered. "The experiment hunter Earth girl has returned and the ridiculously talented man has re-joined her." Hamsterviel reported. "Hmm, that's rather troublesome, but it's no matter. I have virtually all of the experiments in my prison." Gantu replied. "This is good. Proceed with phase number the second!" Hamsterviel ordered. "Yes sir, and might I add that I look forward to phase three the most." Gantu replied. "Oh yes, phase three will ensure my successful success. When phase three is complete, nobody will stop me, not even that talented earth man, Mark Nissan."

Meanwhile, Mark, Lilo, and Stitch were back at the car. "So far, being a teenager is a drag." Lilo said. "Ih" Stitch replied. "I bet I didn't skip far enough. Maybe if I get older things will be even funner." Lilo suggested, but Stitch and Mark shook their heads, but Lilo ignored them both and asked Mark, "Are you coming with us this time."

"Nah, I can wait another ten years, now that I know when you're coming back this time. I'm getting the feeling that I should stay put, just in case."

"Ok, I just hope that you're wrong about Hamsterviel for once. Alright, Skip, punch it." Lilo said. Skip pressed the skip button on his own, went transparent again, and there was another flash of light and everything was different somehow. Mark wasn't there anymore, obviously, and the dune buggy was now flooded with tickets. "Did it work?" Lilo asked. Stitch opened his eyes, saw Lilo and said, "Nani!" Lilo looked into the mirror and admired her adult self before noticing the parking tickets.

"Hey you! Is this your car?" A cop asked her as he drove over to them. "Um…no?" Lilo answered. "Well, I feel sorry for whoever owns it. It's breaking about a million laws in the Hamstervielville city code." Something wasn't right about the name. "Hamstervielville? But I thought this was Kokaua town." Lilo said.

"Miss…this place hasn't been called Kokaua town for at least five years." The cop informed her before speeding off. Lilo had then noticed it, Hamsterviel was distributing himself everywhere as if he were the one who owned the entire island. There were even more posters of Mark as a wanted man. A very large price was wanted for his capture and hand-in to Hamsterviel. "Stitch…I think we skipped too much." Lilo said in a frightened tone. Stitch pulled on his face and screamed in worry.

They ran through the town, trying to find their way back home. Then Stitch noticed the wanted bulletins on the many screens. "Oka Taka!" Stitch shouted and pointed to them. The very first one was Mark, the second was Sparky, third was Finder, then Shoe, and last were Skip and Stitch. "Oh no…these were all the experiments I caught twenty years ago…and Mark! Stitch, we've got to get you and Skip out of here before--" Lilo began but then another cop noticed the two experiments and shouted, "Hold it right there!"

"…caught." Lilo finished.

Stitch growled, extended his extra arms and said, "Chubi chiba!"

"No, Stitch!" Lilo protested, but the little blue alien went with his own instincts and jumped at the cops. They both took out some high-tech weapons and captured both Stitch and Skip. They went over to them when Lilo jumped in between the experiments and the cops, saying, "If you want them, you're gonna have to get through me!" At these words, the cops stood away from each other to reveal a mean crab-like alien.

The crab split into two halves, one half captured them while the other simply tossed Lilo aside. The two halves of the crab then became whole again and trapped Stitch and Skip in a container that was made in their center. "Lilo!" Stitch called out to her. "I'll come back for you Stitch!" Lilo told him before running away. "Halt!" The male cop shouted at Lilo, but the female one stopped him and said, "Let her go, the boss only cares about the experiments and Mark Nissan."

"That Mark sure is a slippery one, he's been spotted more times than I can count, but nobody's managed to get a hold of him yet." The male cop replied as they both drove away with the experiments. Lilo finally made it to her house a while later. Lilo opened the door and called for Nani, Jumba, and Pleakely, but there was no answer, just an empty house. "Anybody…" Lilo said desperately when a voice finally replied from a different room, "Little girl?"

Jumba came from the hallway, wearing a tacky orange sweater, yellow scarf and eating ice-cream. "Jumba!" Lilo greeted him. "It is you!" Jumba replied as they hugged each other. "Oh, you are a sight for my eyes to go sore to look at." Jumba said as he smiled at her. The color of his eyelids made it look like he had gone days without sleep. "Jumba, what happened here?" Lilo asked. "Uhh, house was reposes-ed to pay for unpaid parking tickets." Jumba answered. "Why didn't you just move the car?"

"You had the car keys."

"Oops." Lilo said guiltily as she pulled the keys from her pocket.

"I have been hiding in attic, eating only canned rutabagas and rain-water ever since Emperor Hamsterviel took power." Jumba told her as he began working on a futuristic television set. "Emperor?" Lilo asked in shock. "He captured all experiments because you were not here to catch them with six-two-six. Where is six-two-six?" Jumba said to her. Lilo answered, "They just arrested Stitch and Skip, we're going to need more help to rescue them. Where's Nani."

"Eh, is not such happy story. To pay of debt, bigger, bigger girl went to work for Hamsterviel. She is his personal water-bottle holder." As he finished this, a picture of Nani holding a large hamster-style water bottle for Emperor Hamsterviel to drink appeared on the television.

"There were a LOT of parking tickets." Jumba finished. "And what about Mar--" Lilo began but Jumba suddenly clamped his giant alien hand over her mouth and said, "SHH!! His name is not to be spoken of in this household, Hamsterviel's orders. We are to forget all about him, and not even mention his name. Do not worry though, he is excellent hider, hasn't been caught yet."

"What have I done?" Lilo asked in horror as she backed up to the sheet-covered couch. Jumba followed her but his weight cause a lot of dust to fly in the air. "There is some good news though, Pleakely is international fashion celebrity."

"Pleakely?" Lilo asked, happy to finally hear something good. "He has top-ten TV show on intergalactic fashion channel." Jumba said as he turned the TV on. Pleakely was on a talk show, wearing a snazzy outfit and had appeared to have grown white hair. "So remember, that's flannel gauchos for the look that's all the rage in Milwaukee this season." Pleakely said before jumping off of his chair and bowing to the audience. "Now, lets take a few callers." He said suddenly. Lilo called him immediately. "Hi Pleakely, it's your old pal, Lilo, and have I got a makeover for you." When the call was finished, Lilo said, "Ok, we got Pleakely to help us, now we just need someone with speed and agility."

"No way! He won't like it. I am telling you, he can't go out of hiding!" Jumba protested. "Oh, come on Jumba, we can't do this without him. He knew Hamsterviel was up to something ten years ago and--"

"He hasn't been able to do anything about it. The most talented man in this world and even he couldn't stop Hamsterviel's plan before it even began."

"That's because we weren't around to help him the same way he helped us almost every day. Come on Jumba, where is he?"

"Jumba cannot say. He doesn't contact Ohana for their own safety. He always cared about us, even though he never showed it when you were just little girl." Jumba said to Lilo. "Oh, come on, Jumba, you have to know where he is, you're a genius after all, where would he be able to hide?" Lilo asked. "Jumba cannot say. House is under full surveillance. Our entire conversation might have been recorded."

"But…you do know right?"

"Of course Jumba knows, but am not telling. Maybe I just show you." Jumba said before getting off the couch and heading outside. Nobody was waiting for them, the surveillance must have only been the recordings that Jumba had mentioned. They walked through the horrible town that was once so beautiful and was now ruined with distributions of Hamsterviel and wanted bulletins. Hamsterviel was everywhere, it felt like he was watching their every move, clearly something that he intended to do. "Over here." Jumba said as he tried to get the lid off of a manhole, but his fingers were too big.

Lilo helped him and took it off herself. "You want us to go into a sewer?" Lilo asked in disgust as she looked down the hole and was welcomed by the horrible stench of the bile and urine that might have flowed as a stream in the tunnel below. However, the tunnel was pitch black from where she was. "Underground is only way to hide from Hamsterviel's forces." Jumba explained. "How do you know?" Lilo asked him. "I've thought it over many times. The police don't patrol the underground because of horrible smell, and everybody else is wanting to keep Mark safe. They believe that he is only chance against Hamsterviel." Jumba answered.

Holding her breath, Lilo jumped into the hole and Jumba tried to follow her but his enormous body size wouldn't let him go any further than his waist. "Ah, blitsnak! Do not worry! I will find own way down." Jumba said to Lilo as he struggled to get back to the surface. Lilo looked around. The setting didn't appear to be your average sewer system. If anything, there was nothing down there that would have caused that odor that she smelled when she was on the surface. This sewer line looked more like it would serve as someone's living area. A few moments have passed when Jumba came from the side of Lilo, it appeared that he had found his own way down.

"You shouldn't have come here, Jumba. Lilo? So, it's been ten years already. Glad you're here. I need your help in over-throwing Hamsterviel, but first, we need to get Skip back." Mark said from the shadows. "How do--?" Lilo began but Mark had interrupted her, saying, "I'm well informed on what happens on the surface. Just because I live underground doesn't mean that I don't have a television."

"Right. Well, we need your help too." Lilo said to him. "Yes, of course. I will meet you at Hamsterviel's place. I already have a plan to stop him, and don't worry, I'll get caught on purpose this time." Mark said to her as he stepped out of the shadows. Getting arrested was Mark's one-way ticket to where Stitch and Skip were being held. "You guys better go. If someone didn't follow you here, then chances are that the satellites have spotted you two getting in here." Mark continued he looked up at the entrance that Lilo took. Lilo and Jumba went their separate ways and left Mark alone. Surprised at how easy that was, Jumba commented, "What on earth could he be planning that would force him to allow himself to get arrested?"

When Lilo and Jumba arrived, Stitch and Skip were being threatened by Gantu when the police brought Mark in. "Well, if it isn't the trog and the fugitives. I've waited a long time for this moment." Gantu said to them. "Gantu! Jakata Quista!" Stitch shouted before launching himself at Gantu and attempting to bite him. However, he was restrained to a specific point. "I see you're as abominable as ever." Gantu commented on Stitch's actions. "Learned a new word I see. Too bad you're still thick-headed." Mark insulted Gantu. Gantu was about to reply when Six-two-five appeared in a hologram calling system and said, "Hey Gantu, we got a collect holo-call from Hamsterwheel."

"Viel! Hamsterviel!" Hamsterviel shouted from the other line. "If you want I could accept the charges." Six-two-five continued. "Do I have a choice?" Gantu asked. Hamsterviel had then replace Six-two-five in the hologram calling system and said, "I heard that! I should have you turned into Friday-night fish sticks served with many tasty dipping sauces!"

"Emperor Hamsterviel, to what do we owe this great pleasure?" Gantu asked as if the gerbil didn't insult him. "My oh-so-sneaky spying spy says that Mark Nissan has been caught yes? I wish to heckle him." Hamsterviel answered as he glanced at Mark. "You thought you could defeat me eh? It is I who will laugh last. Ha, ha! See? That was the last laugh." Hamsterviel gloated. Mark just continued to sit on his knees with the same smirk on his face that he had when he got there.

"Ahem, sir. If you don't mind--" Gantu began but Hamsterviel interrupted him by sating, "You see this shiny thing on my head? How much bigger and more expensive looking it is than yours? You may continue when I am finished!" Hamsterviel turned around and Gantu waited until Hamsterviel decided that he had nothing more to say to Mark and said, "Ooh! Ok, I'm finished!" before disappearing. "Goodbye abominations." Gantu said Darkly to Mark, Stitch, and Skip. Stitch and Skip trembled in fear but Mark remained calm. Then the doors behind them opened and Pleakely came running out, saying, "Hold it! This is a fashion emergency!"

"Right on time." Mark whispered before breaking his handcuffs off with ease and unlocking Stitch and Skip's handcuffs. Gantu was too shocked by Pleakely's appearance to see what Mark was doing. "Hey, I know you!" Gantu said angrily. "Well, you can't have seen my show, or you wouldn't be wearing this awful all-yellow ensemble. Ugh, you look like a giant talking banana!" Pleakely said before snapping his fingers and summoning his outfit crew, which Lilo and Jumba had disguised themselves as. "While my assistants re-decorate your room, I'll see what I can do with your awful sense of style." Pleakely said as he began rummaging through the cloths rack that Lilo and Jumba brought out.

Mark handed Stitch and Skip to Lilo and took care of the guard crabs his own way. Jumba grabbed Pleakely just as he threw a purple scarf on Gantu and dragged him away. "Oh, my work here is finished!" Pleakely said as Mark, Jumba, Skip, Lilo, and Stitch made a run for it. Gantu ripped the scarf off of his face and growled furiously. Mark closed the doors when Lilo, Stitch, Skip, Jumba and Pleakely made it to safety. Lilo pounded on the door and said, "Mark! What are you doing? Get in here!"

"No way, you guys need to get out of here, I'll buy you time!" Mark replied as he faced Gantu, who pulled out his blaster and began firing.

Mark pulled a few back flips but it was all he could manage. There was a loud snap and Mark held his leg and shouted in pain. "Darn it, I'm getting too old for this!" Mark said as he held his leg, too wounded to move. Lilo saw him through the crack in the door. "Jumba, what's happening?" Lilo asked in shock. "Mark is 37 now, near the age of 40, when people decline in physical skill, in short, he's getting old and can't do as much as before." Jumba answered. Gantu aimed his blaster at Mark at close range and said evilly, "Phase three…complete." before pulling the trigger and ending Mark's life.

All the others saw was a green light and then Mark fell down, completely lifeless, but with a winning grin on his face. He knew what only Jumba knew and knew what would happen in the next few moments, he had planned all of this out before his death. Lilo backed away from the door, tears running down her face as she said, "This has gone too far. Jumba, I can't do this anymore, I just want everything to go back to the way it was."

"Conveniently, Zero-eight-nine also comes equipped with reset button." Jumba said. Lilo and Stitch looked at the experiment in surprise. Skip nodded and pointed to the smaller button on his head. "Now you tell me." Lilo commented. "Now is good." Jumba replied as Gantu tried to break the door down.

Lilo picked Skip up and said, "See you guys later. I mean earlier…before. Oh, you know what I mean." Stitch, however, found goodbyes to be useless at this point as he took Lilo's hand and made it press the small button on Skip's head. Skip flipped upside-down, went transparent and flashed just as Gantu broke in. Lilo was back to her normal self and they were in her room, resting near the repaired record player. Lilo was happy that she had her seven-year-old body back but she and Stitch were concerned about Nani. Lilo and Stitch went downstairs while Skip rolled over and decided to rest. "Nani!" Lilo called out. Nani came out from the kitchen behind her and asked, "What? What is it?"

Lilo and Stitch ran up to her and took a leg to hug. "You're acting as though you haven't seen me in years." Nani said. "I haven't." Lilo replied. "Listen, maybe I was a little too strict last night. You're growing up whether I like it or not." Nani said as she made her way to the couch with the weight of Lilo on one leg and Stitch on the other. "Forget about it, I think I'm perfectly happy being you baby sister for a while." Lilo replied. "Who are you and what have you done with Lilo?" Nani asked playfully as she tickled Lilo. When she stopped after a second, Lilo said, "Don't worry. You'll understand when you're older."

"I just hope I'll understand you when I'm older." Nani replied.

"No luck. Maybe this is why the time machine hasn't been invented yet, because there's no existing power source that gives the energy needed to bend time and space." Mark said as he came into the room. "Mark!!" Lilo and Stitch shouted before tackling him to the ground and hugging him very tightly. Mark was caught off guard at first but then chuckled and said, "What's with you guys? You act as if I came back from the dead."


	6. Chapter 6: Mark Meets Hamsterviel

-1Mark spun around and fired at another robot with his EMP cannons. He can't believe that it had been an exact year since he did this kind of training. If anything, his time with Lilo and Stitch appeared to have improved his aim. He was back in the old building that he was in a year ago just before his adventures with his new Ohana started. Mark jump-back-flipped in the air over the final android and finished it off. "Man…it was never this easy before." Mark commented on the situation.

Having nothing else to do, he left the building. Upon closing the doors behind him a cop walked up too him and stopped him. "Hey! No trespassers allow--oh…sorry, Mark." Mark smiled in relief and said, "Ah, don't worry. Just training and revisiting old memories."

"Yeah. I heard you got yourself a new Ohana. The Pelekai family, eh? How're they working out for ya?" The cop asked.

"They're not too bad. Stitch can be a little trouble-maker sometimes, but he's a good dog. We play all the time. He's very energetic for a little guy. The others are great too. They have their own worries, their own lives. They know that I like my space sometimes." Mark chuckled and looked up at the sky, he was being honest when he said that the others were great as well. "Well, that's good to hear. I'm sure your parents would have loved to meet them. You know, that Lilo and Nani lost their parents too? You three have a lot in common, no wonder they adopted you into their family."

Pain stuck Mark's heart at these words. He was the only one who knew that his and Lilo and Nani's parents died in the same car accident. It was three years ago now when it happened. "Yeah…yeah, I knew." Mark answered in a depressed tone. The cop heard the change in his voice and asked, "You alright?" Mark looked at him and said in his best efforts to hide his sadness, "Yeah, I'm fine. I should be going now. With my family not knowing where I am and all." Before the cop could reply, Mark was walking away. When he was out of view he let his tears flow. They were out of sadness over losing his old family and happiness of finding a new one.

Later, on the Prison asteroid: K37, a role call was taking place as the prisoners got ready for bed. "Cell check 750. Hamsterwheel present, confirmed." A guard said into a radio and then continued on his way. Hamsterviel, who was pretending to sleep, opened one eye and said when the guard was out of earshot, "Ha! I am never to be secured. Ach Glach Nach Gaga." Upon those last words, a computer voice responded, saying, "Hamsterwheel detention override sequence activated."

"Hamsterviel Viel! You oh-so-silly computer voice!" Hamsterviel corrected irritatedly. The Cell had then transformed into Hamsterviel's own private office. "Contact Gantu." Hamsterviel commanded the computer.

"We're losing power! We're losing power!" Gantu said as he took a bubble bath inside his spaceship and played with model spaceships. "We're hit! Force shields down! Reroute all power to aft weapons!"

"Gantu!" Hamsterviel called as the screen popped up in front of the sharkish alien. "Uh, uh. D-Dr. Hamsterviel. I was just practicing my tactical maneuvers." Gantu lied as he showed his boss the spaceship models. "I do not care for your plastic amusement. It is your failures at catching my experiments that sickens me to the bone!" Hamsterviel scolded Gantu as the screen pressed up against Gantu's face intimidatingly.

Gantu pushed the screen back a bit and explained, "S-sir, it's not my fault. It's that Six-two-six, that obnoxious teenager, and that little girl Earthling."

"SILENCE!!! You are good for nothing but the pathetic excuses. That is why I am giving your job to someone infinitely more competent." Hamsterviel said to him. "More competent? But I--" Gantu began but Hamsterviel interrupted him, saying, "Have failed me Gantu. As of this moment, you are fired!" And with that, the screen turned off. "But…you can't fire me." Gantu objected a bit too late. "Ooh, ouch. Hurts to be you. A word of advice: Before you go looking for a new job, put some pants on." Six-two-five said to Gantu before walking away with the large plate of sandwiches he was holding. Gantu growled furiously and crushed his toys in anger.

Back at the house, Lilo and Stitch were playing checkers while Mark was being the referee. Lilo moved a piece and Stitch took some of Lilo's pieces by jumping one of his pieces over hers with his tongue. Lilo looked at Mark, who said, "It's a fair play."

"Lilo!" Nani shouted from the living room as she entered. "Uh-oh. Nanisaurus rex is on a rampage again." Lilo said dully as she heard her older sister's voice.

"Look at these bills! $20 for the window Stitch broke, $60 for a new door for the refrigerator, $200 for Mr. Kauakini's broken gas grill!?" Nani complained. "What!? I fixed all of those! Why are we getting bills for them? Don't pay them, Nani. I fixed all of those thing good as new free of charge, just like I always do when Stitch accidentally breaks something." Mark informed her. "That's good news. But why the grill, Lilo?" Nani asked. "It was an emergency gas-grilling situation, and we caught the experiment." Lilo answered. "That's great honey, but it's not going to pay all of these bills." Nani said. "I told you, you don't have to pay them. They're charging you for no reason." Mark explained once again.

Nani nodded at him to show that she knew but that she was trying to prove a point. She looked at Lilo again and said, "I'm sorry but that means no hula lesson this week."

"But I need my hula lessons. For self-esteem, personal growth, and development. See, I--" Lilo began but stopped as she saw her broken hula trophy. Stitch tried to put it back together with his saliva, but it wasn't sticky enough to hold it together. "Ok, that does it! I have had it up to here with the little blue wrecking ball." Nani said before handing a book to Lilo.

Lilo read the title aloud, "The Shining path to puppy hood: Turning your bad dog good with the ancient wisdom of the East. Dog training?"

"It's a new approach using some old techniques." Nani said as she got out the dreaded squirt bottle and handed it to Lilo. Stitch was stacking checkers pieces and accidentally knocked his tower over when he bent over to pick up another piece. Out of anger, he tore the board into four pieces and Lilo sprayed him with water. After she did this, he just stood there for a moment. Lilo read the book aloud, "When the shining path to goodness eludes your puppy, spray him with the water bottle of karmic cleansing."

"Now, Lilo that's just cruel! You know Stitch hates being sprayed with water." Mark protested. Nani raised an eyebrow at him and held up another book and said, "And this one's a guide to help teenagers to listen to their elders." Nani handed the book to Lilo as well. Lilo read it to herself this time and then sprayed Mark in the face with water. Mark's hair was sopping wet and flopped over his face. Mark moved his hair out of the way and asked miserably, "What…was that for?" Mark hated being sprayed almost as much as Stitch did.

"The book says to use the same method of training as you would a dog." Lilo explained to him. "Great." Mark said as he put his hand down, letting the hair flop in his face again. Stitch looked at Lilo for a while before grabbing both books and tearing them to shreds. "Good luck." Nani said to Lilo as she left the house. Lilo walked up to Stitch and said in her heart-filled voice, "Stitch, you need to play the good doggy for a little while. Just so Nani can see that you know how to be good." Stitch looked away, crossed his arms, and huffed in anger. "This is important. Will you do it for me? Because I love you." Lilo said. Mark noticed that Lilo used those last four words rather lightly, as if they had no meaning to her.

Stitch, however, didn't seem to notice this as he said, "Ok, ok. Stitch good. Very good." Lilo and Stitch hugged. Stitch then began sniffling and stuck his tongue up his nose. Once he did this, Lilo squirted him again and Mark rushed up to Stitch and pulled him away from Lilo. Lilo then Squirted Mark too, for trying to interrupt her training for Stitch.

A while later, Lilo officially began training Stitch. "Your puppy must learn to walk gently on the path of goodness." Lilo read aloud before pointing to a paper path and explaining to Stitch, "This is rice paper, the most delicate paper in the world. All you have to do is walk across it without tearing it."

"That's impossible, Lilo! Even I couldn't do tha--" Mark began but was interrupted as Lilo squirted him again.

Stitch carefully began walking on the paper. It seemed ok at first, but then the paper tore on his second step and Lilo squirted him on the back of the head. Out of fury, Stitch shredded a little bit of the rice paper. Lilo squirted him again after he was done. Stitch shook the water off and his fur went poofy, making him look ridiculous. Mark took Stitch away and fixed both his own and Stitch's hair.

"The path to puppy hood has many twists and turns, but your puppy must persevere." Lilo read aloud as she prepped Stitch for a maze test. Mark was waiting on the other end. "Find your way out of the maze. But don't lose your cool." Lilo said to Stitch before he entered. Stitch ran into three dead ends, got extremely frustrated, and made his own way through. Lilo squirted him when he got out. Mark and Lilo looked at each other and out of nowhere, Lilo accidentally squirted Mark again. "What was that for?" Mark asked angrily. Lilo chuckled nervously and explained that her hand had slipped.

A while later, Lilo, Jumba, Mark, and Pleakely were in the living room. Mark kept trying to keep his hair out of his face, but it kept flopping back. Jumba was working on a new invention of his, and Pleakely was painting something. "Stitch is having a hard tie finding the delicate lotus of his doggy nature. He just likes breaking stuff." Lilo said to Jumba before sighing and finishing, "Expensive stuff."

"Do not to be worrying. When my invention is complete, Ohana will be swimming in moneys. We can pay for any destruction Six-two-six can be making." Jumba informed her. "And when my money making progress is finished, we won't need your invention." Pleakely said as he continued his painting.

"You guys, we don't need money, I have over a million dollars already." Mark informed them both. Upon hearing the amount, all three of them looked at him in pure awe. "How is it possible?" Jumba asked. "Hello! I wrote a book. I get a paycheck for one thousand dollars every week." Mark explained. Pleakely continued, "Well, Your book is one thing, but my masterpiece will be bringing in more than that a week."

"Let me see!" Lilo said as she hopped off the couch and went over to Pleakely. "Oh no, nobody looks until the big unveiling. But believe me, it's stunning. A surefire money-making juggernaut that will have our Ohana positively swimming in cash. Enjoying a lifestyle of leisure, luxury, and--don't I look terrific in this beret?" Pleakely asked as he pointed to the light blue beret he was wearing with his paintbrush. "Ya, you kinda do." Lilo answered as she observed him. "Must admit, it's very fetching." Jumba replied. "Well, yes. But I've seen better." Mark answered. His hair flopped onto his face again and he groaned in anger, "That's it, I'm drying my hair!" Mark said as he stormed off to the bathroom.

A little while later, Gantu was applying for a job at an office. "So, Mr. Gantu, what skills can you bring to a job?" The woman who was interviewing him asked. "Well, I am qualified in sixteen different weapons categories, licensed to pilot nebula-class warships, including ones with new quantum displacement drives." The woman just stared at him and replied, "…Ok. Can you type?" Gantu had just started his new job and when he tried to type on the keyboard, the entire desk went through the floor and through the floor under that. "Oh blitsnak." Gantu groaned. He just knew he was going to get fired twice in one day.

Back at the house, Pleakely was finished with his painting. Lilo was the only one watching the unveiling process. "And now, the moment we've all been waiting for. The money-making miracle of the ages! Ta-da!" Pleakely ripped off the sheet that covered his "masterpiece" which was nothing more than a cliché lemonade sign that read, "LEMONADE 10cents A GLASS."

Lilo was expecting more as she said, "A lemonade stand? THAT'S your big idea?"

"Lemonade stands appear in all of your Earth cartoons, and every situation in comedy ever written. It's brilliant! Cliché, but Brilliant! So what do you think? Lilo?" But Lilo had left. She couldn't take Pleakely's dimwittedness and left the house for a while.

Gantu was applying for another job at a sub-sandwich restaurant. "Here's your subwich island special." Gantu said to a customer when his employer demanded, "Avast. Speak it proper says I."

"Um…what?" Gantu asked. His boss explained in normal grammar, "You need to talk like a pirate, it's part of the job." Gantu sighed and said in pirate talk, "Aye, aye Captain Breadbeard." Gantu then turned to the costumer and said dully, "Ahoy matey. Sandwich ho. Thar be a special with extra ched-argh." Gantu then handed the sandwich to the costumer, which happened to be Six-two-five.

The experiment looked at the sandwich in disgust and said, "Yeesh. You call this a sandwich? This isn't a meal, this is a mistake. Captain, keel-haul this lubber." Gantu appeared shocked that his partner would purposely get him fired. "Aye, ye customer's always right. Time for thee to walk the plank into the briny deep of unemployment." Gantu just pulled his bosses hat down over his head, said, "Oh, blitsnak." And walked out of the restaurant, now fired three times in one day.

Back at the house, Jumba was working on his invention in the kitchen while Lilo was pouting in the same room. "No matter what I do, Stitch keeps breaking things." Lilo complained. "Sometimes people cannot change, and is even more difficult for a formerly evil genetic experiment." Jumba replied. Stitch was in the living room, eavesdropping on the conversation. "If he doe doesn't change, Nani says we can't afford to keep him." Lilo told Jumba. Stitch lowered his ears and bowed his head in sadness at these words when suddenly, a TV commercial announced, "Do you need money? Do you have first-hand experience with extra-terrestrials?"

An eager Stitch replied, "Ih, ih!" The commercial continued, "Then contact professor Gunther Freem. He'll pay cash on the dollar for proof of aliens from outer space."

"Meega alien." Stitch thought aloud. The commercial ended with, "Don't delay get your cash today! Offer not void in some galaxies. Freem is Meerf spelled backwards." Stitch gave it some thought and decided to take this Professor Gunther's offer. Stitch snuck out the window and disappeared from view. Lilo walked in the room with the squirt bottle and said, "Ok Stitch, practice time…Stitch?" Lilo saw the open window and looked out of it and said his name again, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Mark entered the room and Lilo ran past him and into the living room. She was determined to find her little blue friend. "Stitch? Stitch, where are you?" She called out as she looked under the table. "I can't find Stitch anywhere." Lilo complained to Jumba. "Oh, that's just great. I'm gone for ten minutes and Stitch disappears." Mark complained before adding reassuringly, "Don't worry, I'll help you find him." Mark disappeared back into the living room. Jumba thought about it and suggested that Stitch was probably either taking a nap or hiding from the spray bottle and, as he put it, sulking like a baby.

Lilo became heartbroken and even more worried at Jumba's second suggestion and said, "Oh no! I've squirted him out of the only Ohana he's ever known."

"Oh gee, yeah. Good job, Jumba. Make her even more worried, that's what she REALLY needs now." Mark said to Jumba sarcastically. Jumba merely glared angrily at Mark's direction.

Lilo went over to the kitchen window and asked Pleakely, who was selling lemonade, if he had seen Stitch. "Nope, but I have seen a lot of paying customers. Earth people offer the most fascinating types of currency, too." Pleakely answered before pulling out a few objects and continuing, "I've made twenty marbles, a coconut, a hubcap, some movie stubs, an oyster shell, and a used Tiki torch." Lilo and Jumba looked at each other. "He has never been good with moneys. But not to worry, money is coming." Jumba said to her.

"I'm not worried about the money. I'm worried about Stitch." Lilo replied to Jumba. Meanwhile in a laboratory that stuck out in a volcano, Stitch rang the doorbell of the lab. An old man with half-moon shaped glasses answered the door. "Yes, yes. I'm a busy man." Professor Gunther scolded Stitch. "Meega alien." Stitch announced. Gunther laughed and said, "You're no alien. Your some sort of mutant koala." Stitch then extended his extra arms, his antennae, and his spines. Gunther looked convinced now as he said, "Outstanding!"

Gunther brought Stitch into his lab. Stitch asked for the money and Gunther informed him, "You'll get your money soon, I just need to run a few tests to make sure you're a genuine alien." Gunther's tests were to see if he was bullet-proof, can think like a supercomputer, and lift three thousand times his own weight. Stitch, of course, had passed all of them being that he was created to do all three. The final test was to see if he was capable of destroying cities. Stitch appeared to be ready for destruction, when he suddenly patted the model buildings calmly as if they were pets.

"Hmm…getting you to change your behavior will be harder than I expected." Gunther said. A mechanical claw grabbed Stitch and then confined him in metal hand an foot holds. Stitch struggled to get free, but with little success. "I am well aware of your strength, Six-two-six." Gunther said in a victorious voice. "Gaba?" Stitch questioned. Something wasn't right. "Once I restore your original destructive programming, all will fear the name of…" Gunther began, but then the top half of his head folded down to reveal a machine with a gerbil in it that continued the sentence with, "Dr. Jacques Van Hamsterviel." Stitch was shocked at his nemesis' arrival. How did he escape from prison? Hamsterviel laughed evilly until he choked on a hairball.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Jumba's invention was finally finished. "At last, evil genius project is ready. I call it, the instant moneys-maker machine." Jumba said as he turned the device on and it began to print money. "It makes money?" Lilo asked Jumba. "Shazam! All the moneys you can be wanting. No more trouble with the bills." Jumba answered. "Cool. But I wish your machine can tell me why Stitch left…or where he is." Lilo said sadly. Mark looked appalled at Jumba's machine and said, "Jumba! This is illegal! We can't print fake money, it's ten times worse than stealing!"

"Ah, you are worrying too much, Mark Car-person. Much like big-girl." Jumba assured him. Mark was about to argue when a commercial came up, saying, "Are you a space alien? Do you need money? Then come see Professor Gunther Freem. Professor Freem offers big bucks for tiny aliens. Don't delay, bring in your little green man today." They all stared in shock at the TV long after the commercial ended when Mark broke the silence, saying, "I've been with this Ohana long enough to know that nothing is coincidence."

"That's where Stitch must be!" Lilo pointed out excitedly. Jumba added, "I know scientists, they like taking things apart, especially genius experiments." Mark smacked his forehead and groaned. He didn't understand why Jumba kept on having to say the wrong thing at the wrong time today. Lilo gasped in fear and said, "What? We've got to save Stitch before he gets taken apart!" With that, Lilo ran out of the house with Jumba and Mark following her.

"Come on Pleakely!" Lilo demanded as she ran by his lemonade stand. "We are rescuing Six-two-six." Jumba explained before following Lilo. "But I just made a fresh batch." Pleakely informed them as he pointed to a new batch of lemonade. Mark pushed Pleakely from behind the lemonade stand to the direction of Lilo and Jumba and said, "Who cares? We've got a little blue alien to save!"

"Alright, but it'll cut into my profits, money doesn't just make itself you know!" Pleakely said as he allowed Mark to push him in their direction. Inside the house, Jumba's money-making machine was flooding the house with money.

Back at the laboratory, Hamsterviel was putting his plan into action. "I hope you are comfortable, Six-two-six. I have invented a way to reverse the polarity in your little meaty meat brain." Hamsterviel said before pushing a button and sending a special helmet to latch onto Stitch's head. Stitch was still struggling to get free, but still, to no success. "In moment, your original destructive programming will return. With you at my side, I will gather up your cousins and wreak havoc on the galaxy with my army of nasty naughtiness!" Hamsterviel laughed and activated his machine.

"Oh, it's times like this when I feel ten inches tall." Hamsterviel said admiringly as he saw his victory in action. When the process was over, Hamsterviel walked over to Stitch and asked him, "And how are we feeling now?" Stitch replied by extending his extra arms and his antennae and saying, "Meega nala queesta!" and cackling. Hamsterviel chuckled in victory and said, "I knew you could not remain a goody four-paws forever." At that moment the doorbell rang and Hamsterviel went from happy to extremely annoyed. "What is distracting me with a distraction?!" Hamsterviel asked angrily before putting the robot's head back in its proper position and answering the door. Gantu was there.

"Hello, I'm here about the ad for aliens. I am an alien." Gantu said to the disguised Hamsterviel. "You're a fired alien, that's what you are." Hamsterviel scolded him. Gantu stuttered in shock but then his question was answered when Hamsterviel revealed himself again. "Dr. Hamsterviel? You're supposed to be in prison." Gantu said in shock. "3-day furlough. Just enough time to hire a new assistant." Hamsterviel explained as he showed the confined and changed Stitch.

"The abomination!" Gantu said in disgust. "Yes, with Six-two-six's destructive programming in place, he will help me capture the other experiments! You will not! Goodbye." Was all that Hamsterviel said before slamming the door on the baffled Gantu. The door opened again and Hamsterviel snatched the paper Gantu was holding and said, "Give me that! I recycle!" And then slammed the door again.

Hamsterviel went back to Stitch and asked, "Are you ready to be a very bad boy?" Stitch didn't have to answer as Hamsterviel had then released the shackles holding him and pulled out the model city again. Stitch cackled, rushed over, and began destroying it. After swiping at a few buildings, Hamsterviel roared in victory, "Let's get naughty!" Hamsterviel began laughing evilly when there was another ring at the door. "More interruptions! Right when I was having a naughty moment."

The doorbell rang again, insuring that whoever it was, was very eager to see professor Gunther Freem. "Yes what is it? I'm a bus--" The disguised Gerbil began, but was interrupted when Mark rushed in and pinned the old man against the wall and began interrogating him, saying darkly, "I believe you have something of ours. A little blue alien, 3 feet tall, blue fur, looks like a koala, goes by the name of Stitch?"

"Oh, of course. Come right in. I'm sure he can't wait to see you." Hamsterviel greeted as if Mark didn't just harass him in his own lab. Mark eyed the machine suspiciously and cautiously went into the lab. Lilo, Jumba, and Pleakely followed. "Sometimes it just pays to be evil." Hamsterviel muttered when they were out of earshot.

Hamsterviel went over and opened the doors for them when they approached his lab. Lilo saw Stitch standing over a destroyed model of a city and called out his name happily. Stitch looked over at her. Right away, Mark could tell that something wasn't right. Lilo ran up to Stitch, hugged him, and said, "I was so worried about you!" Stitch just looked confused. Lilo continued, "Even though you break things. I know you're still good. Please come home." Stitch made a move and Jumba interrupted. His timing couldn't have been better. "Ah, ah, ah. One moment please. Evil genius needs to be checking puppy. To make sure he is still in one piece" Jumba said as he separated the two. Stitch struggled against Jumba, trying to get to Lilo, wanting to harm her.

Jumba observed Stitch's actions and said, "Uh-oh. This not looking good." Lilo knew what Jumba meant and argued, "No, Stitch would never hurt us."

"News flash for the little Hawaiian girl: You're wrong! That's exactly what six-two-six was programmed for: Destruction." Hamsterviel explained. Mark made an attempt to attack him when Stitch ripped a piece of the wall off and threatened to harm the rest of the Ohana. Mark saw this and backed off. Stitch calmed down as well, keeping his end of the bargain.

"Wait a minute." Pleakely suddenly said after thinking about it. "You called his Six-two-six. How can you possibly know that unless…" Pleakely continued. His words reached Jumba and Jumba pointed to Hamsterviel and said, "You're no kindly scientist. You are--"

"Yes, it is I--" Hamsterviel began, but then nothing happened. "Ahh! Oh, why won't this open!?" Hamsterviel complained from inside his disguise. "Uh, excuse me for a moment." Hamsterviel said before trying to force the hatch open, but with no success. "Oh, never mind!" Hamsterviel said before he crawled out of his disguise's ear.

Jumba and Pleakely gasped. Mark, however, was confused. "Who's the gerbil?" Mark asked them. "Hamster! I am a hamster!" Hamsterviel corrected frustratingly. Mark noticed Hamsterviel's long tail and said, "No…you're definitely a gerbil. And an annoying one at that." Hamsterviel muttered angrily under his breath and scolded Mark, saying, "Great! Now your interrupting interruptions have ruined my entrance." Mark held back a laugh and said, "Interrupting interruptions? What's with the double-word talk? Is that supposed to be a trend or something?" Hamsterviel muttered angrily even more at these words. He and Mark had officially become enemies the minute they met.

"Anyway, what's your name?" Mark asked Hamsterviel. "My name is Dr. Jacques Van Hamsterviel." Hamsterviel introduced himself in his usual evil-like tone. Mark held back another laugh and asked, "Did you say Hamsterwheel?"

"NO, NO! HamsterVIEL! VIEL! With a 'V'! Why doesn't anyone get it right?" Pleakely suddenly screamed and made a run for the exit. "Stop him!" Hamsterviel commanded Stitch. Stitch dropped the wall piece he was holding and blocked Pleakely's exit. "I do not think Six-two-six wants us to be leaving." Jumba pointed out. Mark smacked his forehead as he saw Pleakely's version of a failed "Leroy Jenkins" attempt.

Meanwhile, back at the house Gantu had just finished drinking Pleakely's fresh batch of lemonade when he was introduced by a dollar bill. A few more of them fell from the second floor and Gantu saw this. Upon investigating, he found Jumba's money-making machine. Back at Hamsterviel's laboratory, Stitch had the rest of the Ohana cornered. "You see, I have restored Six-two-six's original destructive programming." Hamsterviel said confidently. "No! Stitch knows not to be destructive. He's good." Lilo argued in disbelief. "Oh, you are so wrong. Like a wrong thing that is mistaken." Hamsterviel argued. "Seriously, if you're supposed to be a genius, the double-word talk is really saying otherwise." Hamsterviel muttered angrily once again, crawled back into his android disguise, and commanded Stitch to destroy the Ohana. They all glared at Mark for putting them in this situation.

Stitch picked up the piece of the wall he tore off earlier and went over to them. "We're gonna get smashed!" Pleakely shouted in fear before running face-first into a wall. "No, Stitch. You know how to behave." Lilo said in a heart-filled tone. Stitch looked confused for a moment but then returned to growling at her, remembering how she had tricked him earlier that morning. Lilo pulled out the squirt bottle and said, "I know you don't want to hurt us. Just like I don't want to hurt you." When Stitch saw the squirt bottle he snarled at her. However, instead of squirting him, Lilo tossed the water bottle aside. When Stitch saw this, he came to the realization that she wasn't tricking him this time. "I know that you're good. Now show everyone else. Will you do it for me? Because I love you." Mark looked at her again. He heard the sincere tone in her voice this time.

"What are you waiting for? Smash them! Smash them!" Hamsterviel ordered. Stitch winked at Lilo and then slammed the wall piece on Hamsterviel's disguise. "Stitch…good?" Stitch asked Lilo. "Very good!" Lilo said happily as she ran over and hugged him. "Best genetic experiment I ever met, that's for sure." Mark added happily. "I think I bit both my tongues." Pleakely said to Jumba. Hamsterviel crawled out of his disguise and said, "This is unacceptable! No one outsmarts the great Dr. Jacques Van Hamsterviel!"

"Today is the day for your smarts to be outed." Jumba mocked Hamsterviel. "So you think." Hamsterviel replied before jumping over to a secret exit and continuing, "But I will be having the last of the laughs." Hamsterviel then began laughing as he headed for his exit.

Suddenly, Mark and Stitch landed in front of him. Mark pointed his EMP cannon at him and said, "Hold it right there!" just as Stitch said, "Ey meega nala queesta!" Hamsterviel screamed in surprise and shouted, "No! Back you rabid hedgehog and amazingly talented earthling! Back I say!" Stitch growled at Hamsterviel when Lilo came up behind Stitch with the squirt bottle. Stitch took the squirt bottle from her and sprayed Hamsterviel with it, saying, "Bad mousey." Mark chuckled, satisfied that the truly guilty one was sprayed instead of him or Stitch.

Soon after this, everyone was distracted as Gantu tore his way through, literally. "Dr. Hamsterviel, I have a few things to get off my chest." He began before picking up Jumba's money printing machine and continuing, "With this machine, I'll have all the cash I need so you can't kick me around anymore!" Mark compared the two and asked in an amused tone, "This is your boss? A two-inch space gerbil? What's he going to do, nibble on you 'till you do what he says?" Mark then busted up laughing at Gantu.

Jumba recognized his machine at once and pointed to it, saying, "Hey! That's my money machine." Hamsterviel hopped on a counter and said, "Hey! Over here if you want a job, I will double you pay…triple!" Lilo turned to Stitch and said to him, "Stitch, this is the one time it's ok for you to be destructive." Stitch handed her the water bottle and said, "Ih!" before tearing up the money-making machine that Gantu was holding. Gantu ran over to Hamsterviel and said, "I'll take the job." Hamsterviel pulled a lever and a wall shot down, separating him and Gantu from the Ohana.

Mark stopped laughing at this time and the place was shaking. "Ok, fun's over, time to leave." Mark said hurryingly as he nudged everyone toward the hole in the wall that Stitch had torn earlier. The laboratory sank down into volcano it was built on and a space ship rose out instead. Hamsterviel's voice was heard taunting them, saying, "You have not seen the last of Jacques Van Hamsterv--" Hamsterviel was interrupted again by another hairball. Mark aimed his EMP cannon at the ship and was prepared to fire, when Jumba lowered Mark's weapon and told him, "Let them go. Hamsterviel will be back in prison, and Gantu will return to his ship." Mark wasn't given a choice, he lowered his weapon and watched as they disappeared into the clouds.

Later that night, back at the house, Stitch fixed Lilo's hula trophy. "Lilo, I'm home." Nani called out as she entered the kitchen from the back door. Lilo pointed out that Stitch had fixed her hula trophy and used real glue this time. "Why thank you, Stitch. Looks like that Zen of dog training really paid off." Nani said to Stitch as she patted his head. "Not really, he found the path of goodness all by himself." Lilo said proudly. There was a crash in the living room and Nani rushed over there and gasped in horror. The entire living room was a mess. Furniture was turned over, the curtains were pulled, pictures crooked, and a stool was destroyed. "What happened!?" Nani asked horrifically. "Um…the path kind of went through the living room. He had a little trouble finding the glue." Lilo explained.

Mark entered through the kitchen, leaned his back against the doorway and said to Nani, "Oh and…I'm too mad at you to even help clean this up." Nani fainted and Mark Lilo and Stitch looked at each other. Mark and Stitch did a high-five and laughed out of amusement. "Oh man…it feels so good to stand up to her and not get yelled at or thrown out." Mark admitted as he and Stitch stopped laughing. Lilo even chuckled and replied, "Yeah. You know, I think you fit in here more than other people might think." Mark looked at her with a smile and thanked her. He knew she was right. Even though he hasn't caught an experiment himself yet, he's always fit in here much better than anywhere else.


	7. Chapter 7: Mark's Style

-1"Who in the world is Pudge?" Mark asked Lilo as she was preparing a sandwich for her fish friend. Lilo groaned and explained to him, "Pudge is a fish, who I bring a sandwich to every Thursday."

"So, THAT'S why you're gone every Thursday. I was wondering about that." Lilo ignored him as she made the sandwich. "So…why are you feeding a fish a sandwich?" Mark asked again. "Pudge controls the weather, and if he doesn't get his sandwich, then the entire island will be doomed to a tsunami." Lilo explained in her fast-paced tone.

Mark just looked at her as he took all of this in. Mark glanced over at Stitch who just shrugged his shoulders and hinted Mark to just go along with it. "Come on!" Lilo said as she finished making the sandwich and began pulling Mark with her to the door. Stitch followed them, grabbing a couple of chairs as they headed toward the beach.

At the beach, Lilo's crush, Keoni, was working on his boat for some sort of event occurring that day. "Hey Keoni." Lilo greeted him as she walked toward the beach. Mark and Stitch followed her. "Hey, Lilo. Thanks for coming out. You bring the stopwatch?" Keoni asked her. She held it up and said, "Yup. You think you're going to qualify for the boat race?"

"Trying to. If I don't practice, I don't have a chance. First prize is a new outrigger. I'll signal you when I'm past the break." Keoni said to her as he pushed his boat in the water and hopped in. Lilo looked at Mark and Stitch and said, "And if I help him win, I bet there'll be a free boat ride included for me. You two set up the chairs, I'm gonna go feed Pudge." And with that, she set off into the ocean. "Sometimes I really wish she didn't tell us what to do all the time. You ever feel that way?" Mark said to Stitch, who dropped the chairs and replied, "Ih."

Stitch set the chairs down and Mark noticed the number of chairs and asked, "Why are there two chairs if there's three of us?" Stitch just shrugged and tried to set up his beach chair. Mark got his chair set up just Fine. Stitch, however, was having a little trouble. As soon as he got his chair set up, it snapped shut. Stitch kept on trying but it kept on snapping itself shut. Stitch then did it extremely quickly and tested it to see if it would stay put this time. It stayed still for the moment. Stitch then sat in the chair when it snapped shut on him again. The momentum knocked him into Mark's chair, which also shut on Stitch due to the pressure.

Furious, Stitch destroyed both beach chairs. He examined the remains and sat down, moping over the frustration. "Oh, it's alright Stitch. We don't need chairs to relax on the beach anyway." Mark told him in an attempt to make Stitch feel better. Stitch looked at him and Mark ended up making a chair out of sand for Stitch. Meanwhile, in the ocean, Lilo was swimming around under the water, looking for Pudge. She handed him the sandwich and he gratefully accepted it and swam away. Lilo was heading back to the surface when she saw a shadow of a giant fin swim over her. When it had passed, she swam up and shouted, "Mark, Stitch! There's something in the water." Stitch, who was relaxing on the sand chair, opened his eyes and saw something around the same time Mark did.

"Aka Taka!" Stitch shouted and pointed to it around the same time Mark pointed to the same thing and said, "Over there!" Lilo looked in the direction they were pointing. A large purple fin was heading for Keoni's boat. "Keoni's out there." Lilo thought aloud before calling out his name. Keoni looked over to Lilo and saw the fin heading straight for him. Keoni jumped out of his boat just as the purple fin tore through the wood of his boat and sliced the entire thing in half. The two pieces drifted apart and sank into the ocean. Lilo and Keoni swam back to shore unharmed.

"What was that thing?" Keoni asked all three of them as he looked back to the ocean. "I don't know, but I think you're gonna need another boat." Lilo answered as the boat finally sank out of view. "Ohh! Bad luck, kid. That's beyond repair." Mark commented as he saw the boat sink out of view. Of course, he knew that it was another experiment of Jumba's. Nothing else could do that to a boat with its fin.

Meanwhile, at the rental hut, Gantu was dressed up as a beach tourist as he approached the area. "Hello. My name is Mr. John Bob Jones Smith, and I am a normal Earth tourist and would like to rent a boat." he said to Nani, who replied, "You're not fooling anyone, Gantu." At that moment, Six-two-five approached Gantu with two ice-cream sandwiches and said, "Told ya, flounder-face, blubber's still blubber no matter how you dress it up." Six-two-five had then offered Gantu one of his ice-cream sandwiches. "Quiet, you!" Gantu barked at Six-two-five before turning to Nani and continuing, "I require the use of a watercraft, now!!" Nani just gave Gantu a sly look and said, "Fine, you want to rent stuff, I'll rent you stuff."

When Nani was finished with Gantu, he was dressed in flippers, a green inner tube, a snorkeling mask, and a life-jacket. He was also carrying a bucket of bait, a surfboard, a cooler, a fishing pole, a net, and an oxygen tank. "Wow! Capitan Clam, what happened? The bait shop explode?" Six-two-five commented on Gantu's appearance. "She said I needed all of this." Gantu replied miserably before heading over to the beach. He took one step before tripping over one of the flippers. Six-two-five closed his eyes in a grimacing way as Gantu fell into a small boat. When Six-two-five opened his eyes, a miserable Gantu commented, "I think I crushed my dignity."

Mark heard Gantu's voice, looked over to him, and said, "You never had any in the first place." Mark laughed at this as he followed Lilo and Stitch back to their house, leaving an angry and humiliated Gantu. Once there, Lilo explained to Jumba and Pleakely what happened at the beach. Mark was listening too. When Lilo was finished, Mark immediately commented, "This gets better every time I hear it." Jumba and Pleakely applauded. "What a wonderful play." Pleakely commented as well. "Yes, perfect recreation of my experiment Six-zero-two." Jumba had also commented. "Experiment?" Pleakely asked in shock. Mark, however, showed no surprise, but more interest in what Jumba had to say.

"Six-zero-two is designed to slice ships in half, sink entire navies, and hold breath for very long time. Number Six-zero-two is very territorial and will remain in bay until all and every ship is sinking." At those last words, Lilo gasped and said, "But what about the boat race?"

"As long as Six-zero-two is in bay, every ship is like bagel." Jumba replied. Mark knew what he meant immediately, but Lilo replied, "What?" Mark and Jumba both answered at the same time, "Slice in half and toast."

Back at the beach, Gantu was driving a boat in the ocean, he held out his blaster as he searched the ocean and asked, "Ok, trog, where are you?" Meanwhile, Six-two-five was at the front end of the boat looking for the experiment as well. A few jet-skiers rode right past them, heading in the opposite direction, and saying, "Get to the shore man! There's something sinking the boats!"

"Hmm, must be getting close." The foolish Gantu muttered as he heard them. "See anything?" Gantu asked Six-two-five, who sarcastically replied, "Nope, only a giant fin headed right for us."

"What!?" Gantu asked in shock. A large purple fin went around the nose of the boat and sliced it in half.

The fin had then sunk beneath the surface of the water. As Gantu and Six-two-five sank, Gantu miserably commented, "I think I just lost my deposit." Meanwhile, Mark, Lilo, and Stitch were preparing to hunt down the experiment as well. "Buggy is being ready for aquatic travel, complete with high torque turbine, and special bonsai stabilizers." Jumba displayed as he admired the new watercraft. Pleakely jumped out from under the seat. He was wearing a sailor's outfit as he said, "That's all well and good, but where's the yard arm, the sails…the poo-" Mark covered Pleakely's mouth at that moment and threatened, "Trust me, you don't want to finish that awkward word near me."

"Blech! Fine! The deck at the stern of a ship." Pleakely said after shoving Mark's hand away from his mouth. Lilo was struggling to get Stitch into the boat, but he was pushing against her in order to get away from the water. "Move your blue alien butt!" Lilo demanded as she finally got him halfway across the beach toward the ocean. "Naga!" Stitch complained. "What is wrong with Six-two-six?" Jumba asked.

"And you call yourself a genius. You don't even know your own experiment. He's afraid of the water because of his high molecular density level." Mark explained to Jumba. Lilo finally got Stitch over to the watercraft as Jumba said, "Ah! Not to worry." Jumba began before pulling out three life jackets and continuing, "Special life-jackets, totally sink proof, dunk proof, and comes in three designer colors."

"Oh please, my jacket already comes with that special quality. Don't expect me to wear one of those." Mark said to Jumba. Jumba, apparently, just about had it with Mark's disobedience and forced one of the life jackets on him. He looked strange wearing a regular jacket and a life jacket at the same time. Lilo and Stitch put theirs on willingly. "Everything is so automatic, you don't even have to--" Jumba began before Stitch pressed one of the buttons and his life jacket inflated to a large size. "Push any buttons." Jumba continued in a pointless voice.

Once Mark, Lilo, and Stitch were all in the boat, they set off in search of the experiment. Jumba was keeping an eye on them at the edge of the shore through his four-eye binoculars. "See anything? How are they doing?" Pleakely asked Jumba eagerly when he couldn't see them anymore. "Mark Car-person, little girl, and Six-two-six are in position, but the waves keep rocking the boat, making it difficult to get a clear view. Back and forth, up and down, back and forth, up and down…" Jumba replied. Pleakely was starting to get seasick just imagining the waves' movements. "I think I'm gonna heave-ho." Pleakely said sickly before he fainted.

Out in the water, Mark reached up to his ear and said into a com-link, "Jumba, we're in position."

"I can see that!" Jumba replied through his own com-link. Mark put on his shades, activated the zoom feature of them, looked toward the shore, and said, "Jumba, why did you bring your binocs when you knew I was going to inform you when we were in position?"

"Because I had to be sure you were in proper position myself. You may be very talented and intelligent, but it doesn't hurt to play on safe side." Jumba replied. Mark just took off the shades and rolled his eyes. "I saw that!" Jumba scolded.

Lilo was holding some sort of radar device as she thought aloud, "Jumba's sonar device should lead us straight to Stitch's cousin." She then turned her attention to Stitch and asked him, "Is the capture cannon ready?"

"Ih!" Stitch replied before pushing a button and bringing out a gun loaded with a net. However, it was pretty useless as Six-zero-two popped up from beside them and cut their ship in half anyway. Stitch shook his fist at his cousin and shouted, "Huffer hok!" Lilo looked at him and replied, "I don't know what you said, but you said it." Mark grabbed them both and began looking around; he couldn't see the shore from where he was at.

"Is impossible! Six-zero-two has sunk my superior water buggy!" Jumba said in astonishment and irritation. "Forget the buggy! Three members of our beloved Ohana are in the water with that beast, we have to save them!" Pleakely shouted as he got up. Gantu had an inflatable life raft this time and was just putting it in the water When Jumba stole it and said, "Can we borrow this? Thank you." without waiting for an answer. "Hey!" Gantu shouted in frustration at them. Jumba was rowing toward Mark, Lilo, and Stitch as he said, "Mark, little girl, and Six-two-six will be fine until we get there. Rocking of boat is nice and relaxing. No?" Pleakely, however, obviously didn't care much for the rocking of a boat as he sickly hung back and said, "I'm seeing colors that were never meant to be."

"This way, Jumba!" Mark called out as he saw him in the life raft. The purple fin rose out of the water again, it had found its new victim. "Ikata!" Stitch shouted as he pointed to the fin. Pleakely spotted it and panicked as he said, "Oh no! This is just like what happened in Lilo's play!" Pleakely then grabbed another paddle and began rowing in the opposite direction, causing the boat to spin in circles.

Eventually, the obviously inevitable happened as the experiment sliced through the boat. "Dumbest…aliens…ever." Mark muttered in an irritated tone as Jumba and Pleakely floated to the surface as they too were wearing life jackets. "What'll we do if it comes back?" Lilo asked Jumba, who confidently replied, "Not to worry, six-zero-two only sinks boats, not people."

"So we'll safely drift back to shore!" Pleakely announced victoriously. Mark and Jumba, however, knew the truth. They were too far out to drift back to the Hawaiian shore. They were being carried out to sea.

Not 4 minutes later, Pleakely was already complaining dramatically, saying, "I don't know how much more of this I can take, no food, no water. Just drifting out to sea for weeks on end."

"We have only been in water 3 minutes 28 seconds." Jumba replied. "That long?" Pleakely asked in amazement. "Wait, what do you mean 'no water'? We're surrounded by miles of it!" Mark replied. Pleakely just gave an irony-realization look. "This is awful." Lilo groaned. "Look at side with more brightness, we are safe." Jumba replied happily. "Jellyfish, stingrays, and varieties of other poisonous fish float near the surface, where we are at, and you think we're safe?" Mark pointed out smartly. Jumba didn't answer, but he did stop smiling.

"What about the boat race? And Keoni! If we don't find Sinker, nobody is safe." Lilo said to Jumba. "Eh, Sinker?" Jumba asked. Mark smacked Jumba upside the head and said to him, "Experiment Six-zero-two, dummy. Honestly, one would think that a genius would be smarter than you are."

"Oy! What is being wrong with you? I like you before today." Jumba said to Mark, but Mark didn't reply.

At that moment, a cruise ship was approaching. The wave caused by the ship's arrival had caused Stitch, who was standing on his life jacket instead of wearing it, to fall into the water. Mark got Stitch and put him back on the life jacket. "An overpriced floating hotel! We're saved!" Pleakely shouted. However, he was wrong again as the ship went right passed them. "Would you quit jinxing it, Pleakely!?" Mark scolded Pleakely as he shook his fist in the air at him. Stitch swam to the cruise ship and Mark quickly followed.

Stitch used his life jacket as a surfboard as the cruise ship made another wave. Mark ditched his life jacket and used his body instead. Stitch used his momentum to launch himself onto a wall of the ship while Mark managed to grab a hold of the deck railing after launching himself toward the ship as well. Stitch began climbing the wall when a passenger opened a porthole that he was climbing on. Stitch extended his hand through it and said, "H--hi." The woman then slammed the porthole shut and screamed. Her husband asked her what was wrong. She replied, "There's a monster outside the window."

"Honey, they're not windows, they're portholes." Her husband calmly corrected.

Stitch made his way up to the deck just before Mark did. Stitch had then made his way to the anchor and lowered it. The others grabbed a hold of it before Stitch pulled it back up. Gantu rented another motor boat and headed out to sea again to hunt down Sinker. Six-two-five was eating a huge sub sandwich when he said, "I don't see why I had to come along, my buns are getting soggy."

"That experiment's here somewhere and I need your help." Gantu reminded him. "So, Captain Curr, the scourge of the seas, the bad boy of boating, can't navigate these waters without--" Six-two-five began sarcastically when Sinker, yet again, sunk his boat. "…A new boat." Six-two-five finished miserably and sarcastically at the same time. Meanwhile, back on the boat, Lilo was looking hopeless as she said, "Six-o-two is out there and nobody can stop it…kind of like when my sister's eating chocolate."

"Yeah, no kidding. I've been the victim of one of her chocolate episodes." Mark replied.

"Since buggy is now kaput, I could construct an evil genius device from parts of ship." Jumba informed them as he took a light bulb off of one of the deck lamps. Pleakely arrived with a map and tour schedule, he was admiring the yoga class and the fact that they had a spa when Jumba yanked them out of his hands and said to him, "Hey, hey, hey! No time for pleasure cruise niceties. Today, you are evil genius assistant."

"Just one game of shuffleboard?" Pleakely asked desperately. Jumba just glared at him, an obvious no. "Stitch and I will go tell the captain that we need to get off this boat, so we can go catch Six-o-two." Lilo announced. "I don't think that'll work, Lilo. But go ahead and try." Mark replied pointlessly. He didn't know why, but he just felt so useless all of a sudden as he leaned against the railing and stared out to the sea sadly.

"Ooh! Cola." Stitch said excitedly as he spotted a drink of soda in a beach chair where a woman was resting. Stitch drank the entire glass, then ate it and pulled out the straw. "Harvey, be a dear and rub some lotion on my shoulders." The woman said. She couldn't see Stitch because a magazine was covering her face.

Stitch spit in his hands and began massaging her shoulders. "Ow! Your nails are sharp." The woman said as she began taking the magazine off her face. "Oh see bakita?" Stitch asked her as she saw him. She freaked out and ran away. "Come on, we gotta go find the captain and warn him that his ship is in danger." Lilo said to Stitch as she dragged him with her toward the captain's office.

After a confusing tour of the ship, Stitch spotted the buffet area as Lilo walked away, not noticing where he was going. Stitch snuck into the room and popped up behind a cake, causing those in line to run away, screaming. Stitch ate the entire thing with one chomp, drank an entire bowel of punch, ate four bananas, ate a plate-sandwich of doughnuts and regular sandwiches, and then finally ate an entire vine of red peppers. The peppers were a little too spicy for Stitch as he soon began looking around frantically for water. He spotted an ice sculpture of a mermaid and devoured half of it, ridding himself of the spicy flavor of the peppers.

Stitch then sat on another cake; this one was topped with chocolate icing and cherries. Stitch looked to the side and suddenly looked from relieved to guilty as he spotted an angry Lilo giving him a scolding look with her arms crossed. She dragged him toward the entrance of the room when she ran into an employee of the ship. "Well, it looks like someone's been a naughty-waughty dog haven't they?" She asked in a quirky voice. Stitch licked some icing off his nose as Lilo gave him another scolding look and said, "Busted."

"I'm Tiffany, the cruise Director. Aren't you just the cutest little girly-whirly? Ooh! I can just eat you up." She said in her quirky voice. It was quite frightening. "Please stop talking like that." Lilo requested of Tiffany. "It's not a good idea for a cute little kiddle bunkin like you to be wandering around unsupervised." Tiffany said. Once again in her quirky voice. "We're on our way to see the captain" Lilo explained. Tiffany laughed weirdly and replied, "That is sooo cute! You want to see the captain. Follow me." And walked away. Lilo and Stitch followed.

"Mark's never around when you need him." Lilo muttered miserably herself as she was now in a children's play area. "I knew she was too perky to be trusted." Lilo said angrily. Meanwhile, Gantu's pursuit of Sinker continued as he rented a pedal boat. "This was all that was left. Everything else is rented out due to that ridiculous water-craft race." Gantu complained. Gantu spotted it again and announced when he did. This time, instead of swimming to the side, the experiment sliced straight through the ship, nose to back. Gantu stood up just in time to avoid getting sliced himself. Gantu's legs spread apart, and he eventually lost his balance and fell into the water again.

Back on the cruise ship, Jumba and Pleakely were getting ready to collect items for Jumba's new invention. "How much stuff does an evil genius invention require?" Pleakely asked Jumba. "Eh, an electronic device, motor of some kind, and souvenirs from gift shop. To send to evil genius family back home." Jumba answered.

Pleakely's first item was a radio. Pleakely popped up behind two old guys playing checkers. A baseball game was on the radio. "Here's the windup and delivers. It's a hit to center field! It's going…going--" The man on the radio said when Pleakely suddenly took it while no one was looking. One of the old men looked in it's direction, gasped, and said, "It's gone." The next item was a beach chair. Pleakely snatched it just as a woman was about to sit down. The third one was a blender. Possibly the easiest one to get. Pleakely approached the man who had it, pointed forward and shouted, "Ice berg, dead ahead!" The man ran away screaming, and Pleakely took the blender and did the same.

Meanwhile, in the kid's play area, they were having nap time. Lilo and Stitch were faking it, however. "Nap time's for babies." Lilo whispered when the coast was clear. She and Stitch got up and went outside. They turned a corner and bumped into Tiffany again. "Oh goody. It's twinkle head." Lilo said sarcastically. "Ooh. Looks like somebody's being a bad little sailor." Tiffany scolded Lilo. "Look, lady. We REALLY need to see the captain." Lilo reminded her slowly. "No, someone needs a timey-time-out in frowny town." Tiffany argued. "Frowny town?" Lilo asked repulsively as if she was an adult being treated like an infant.

As Tiffany was dragging Lilo and Stitch to the time-out area. Stitch was clinging onto whatever he could get his claws on; scratching the wall and tearing at a sheet of cloth that Jumba and Pleakely were hiding under. "Little girl! Six-two-six!" Jumba greeted happily. Tiffany turned around and asked them, "You know these two?" At the same time, Jumba said yes, while Pleakely said no. "Well, which is it?" Tiffany asked them, raising an eyebrow. "Uh…what was question again?" Jumba asked.

Jumba, Pleakely, Lilo, and Stitch were locked in a cell. "Hello, this is your captain, Seems we picked up a few stow-aways so we're going to make a little stop in Kauai to drop them off." The captain reported to the guests over the P.A. system. "No, no, no, that's where Sinker is, he'll sink us all!" Pleakely said in a panicking tone. "We've got to catch him before the race starts! I just hope Keoni hasn't found another boat." Lilo replied.

Meanwhile, back on deck. Mark overheard the P.A. announcement and thought aloud, "Oh great. Well, this is what happens when I don't help out." Mark spotted the map Pleakely had earlier and took a look at it. He found the prison ward and began heading over there. Back in the room, the others were pretty much admitting defeat. "I'm hoping everyone is good at holding breath. Because once in bay, Six-o-two will be sinking boat."

"And don't forget the tricky sharks in the water. They look like dolphins, they're tricky. Oh yeah, they're tricky."

"Even if we do get out, we don't have any way to stop six-o-two. This ship, Keoni, the boat race; it's all gonna sink!"

"Am I hearing what I think I'm hearing?" Mark said as he approached the cell. "Mark!?" The others exclaimed at the same time. "The Ohana's finally giving up? That's so not like you guys. We've caught experiment after experiment. How can you let one fish who's only purpose in life is to sink boats stop you? Come on. We've got an experiment to catch!" Mark said inspirationally. "How are we going to get out?" Lilo asked Mark. "Oh, I think Stitch has an idea." Mark replied slyly as the little blue alien started tearing through the wall.

Once everyone was back on deck, Jumba was prepping Stitch in a scuba diving outfit. "So…Stitch is going to catch the experiment again?" Mark asked Jumba. "Of course, he is only one who is experienced enough to do so." Jumba answered. Mark looked out to the sea for a moment and then suddenly requested, "Let me do it." Everyone just stopped dead in their tracks and looked at Mark in pure shock. "Well, think of it. As long as I've been here I haven't been the one catching the experiments. I mean, sure, I helped out but…I've never actually been the one to catch any of them. Not one. So please, let me do it. Just this once." Mark explained.

Pleakely looked to Jumba and said, "He's got a point. All that skill and being unable to use it."

"Indeed. Alright. What's plan?" Jumba asked. Mark looked to his left and spotted a life boat with a small anchor in it connected to a rope. "Lower me into the water, and I'll take it from there." Mark answered.

Mark was in the boat, and ready for Sinker to arrive. "You being sure about this?" Jumba asked worriedly. "Yeah. Of course. You don't need to worry. I know what to do." Mark answered reassuringly. "Ok." Jumba replied, still in his worried tone as he lowered Mark to the water. Mark picked up the anchor and listened for the sounds of Sinker. Then he heard it, the sound of something coming out of the water behind him. Mark turned around just in time to see Sinker coming right for him. Mark back-flipped just as Sinker was slicing through the boat. Mark put the left side of the anchor around Sinker's fin and held on to the rope.

The right part of the anchor scraped against the side of the ship and eventually broke off, making the anchor a hook. "I'm no pushover." Mark muttered to the experiment as the experiment dragged him along the water, fast enough to cause Mark to water ski without skis. Mark shifted his weight and sank under the water to get a look at Sinker. Although his fin was huge, his body was small, about the size of a small bass. Mark shifted his weight again to get back to the surface for air. "I should've guessed. Cute but threatening, that's Jumba's style." Mark thought aloud as Sinker began heading for a wave that a bunch of people were surfing on.

Mark suddenly got an ingenious look in his eye and said, "Now there's an idea." As Sinker pulled Mark along the wave, he snatched a surfboard from under someone and said, "Can I borrow this? Thank you."

"Hey!" The surfer shouted angrily at Mark, shaking his fist at him before being engulfed by the wave. Mark was riding the wave like he had been doing it his whole life. Once he was past the wave, Mark shifted his weight again to get to the side of Sinker and then jumped in the air and then began swinging in complete circles around the experiment, tying him up.

Meanwhile, back on the boat, the crew was looking for the stow-aways after they realized they had somehow tore a hole through the wall and escaped. Lilo peeked around the corner; she was disguised as a guest on the boat. "Ok, the coast is clear." Lilo whispered as she saw that there wasn't anyone there. Pleakely stepped around the corner as well; he too was wearing a different outfit. Jumba, however, stayed put, hidden from view. "I am not coming out." Jumba refused. "Come on, Jumba. You look cute." Lilo said as she pulled the humiliated alien around the corner. Jumba was wearing orange shorts, a blue and white stripped shirt, and a child's "helicopter" cap and holding a lollipop.

"It is undignified for evil genius to dress like earth child." Jumba complained. "Now let's go find the captain." Pleakely muttered to Lilo, giving an irritated look at Jumba. Stitch remained hidden; people would recognize him if he went walking around. In the captain's room, the captain's monocle popped off of his eye and he bent down to get it, muttering, "Stupid monocle." Jumba lifted Lilo up to see through the window that lead to the captain's room, and couldn't see the captain driving the ship. "Hey, there's no one in there." Lilo pointed out. "Nobody there? You mean no one's driving the boat? We gotta do something!!" Pleakely panicked.

The captain finally found his monocle just as Pleakely burst through the door and pushed the captain out of an open space under the control panel, sending him flying through a life saver and into the water. "Oh, did I do that? Sorry." Pleakely said nervously. The captain floated to the surface and his monocle popped out again. "Oh drat." He muttered in an irritated tone. "You knocked the captain out of the window!" Lilo announced in a scolding and shocked tone. "Yes, but don't panic. My Galactic Federation training included water-based crafts." Pleakely explained before taking hold of the wheel.

Jumba suddenly grabbed the wheel and argued, "I am evil genius, I am one who should be driving giant aqua boat." Jumba and Pleakely were fighting over the wheel. "Keep sharp, Six-two-five. I won't have that blasted experiment sink us again." Gantu said to his partner before the giant shadow of the ship was heading toward his badly repaired boat. "Oh blitsnak!" Gantu shouted as he and Six-two-five jumped off the boat just before the ship ran it over and sliced it in two.

Jumba and Pleakely's fighting over the wheel had eventually caused it to break in half. "Oh, now you've done it." Pleakely blamed Jumba. "Not my fault, yours." Jumba replied, pointing at Pleakely. Meanwhile, Mark was surfing back to the boat with a tied up experiment in his grasp. Mark waited until he was close enough before ditching the surfboard and landing on the deck of the boat. Meanwhile, Lilo went over to Stitch and told him that the boat couldn't stop. Stitch ran over to the anchor, but it wasn't working anymore.

Stitch decided to put Jumba's scuba diving suit to use and dove in the water. Stitch swam over to the motor and grabbed into it. The Motor spun Stitch until his heavy molecular density caused it to slow to a stop. Stitch had then forced it to spin the other way, making the boat slow down. The sudden decrease of speed caused Mark, Jumba, Pleakely, and Lilo to fall forward. "Here comes the crashing. Hold onto your patookies!" Jumba warned. "Wait! I--I think we're slowing." Lilo announced to the others. Mark picked the experiment back up and continued walking over to the Ohana. "Hey guys! Can I catch a fish or what?" Mark said with pride as he showed them that he had caught the experiment himself this time. "Oh my…he--he actually did it." Pleakely said in shock. "Don't sound so surprised, it wasn't that hard." Mark replied.

"Welcome to the ninth annual aloha boat race! We'll begin shortly. Captains, prepare to weigh anchor." A man announced as the boat race was starting. Keoni was sulking on another part of the shore. "Well, so much for finding another boat in time." Keoni was then over cast by a shadow. "Hey Keoni!" Lilo called out. Keoni looked up in surprise as Lilo continued, "I found you another boat." Keoni just looked up in shock; speechless and confused as to how Lilo ended up on a cruise ship.

Gantu and Six-two-five ended up being stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean. "Well, look at the bright side, Mr. Blubber. Even YOU can't sink this." Six-two-five then took a pile of sand and slammed his other and onto it, making it look like a "sand"-wich. Six-two-five laughed at his own joke. In blind rage, Gantu went for Six-two-five, but then the Island flipped upside down and sank. Six-two-five and Gantu floated to the surface, unharmed.

That night, the Ohana found a Place for Sinker in an Asian restaurant. As they enjoyed a meal that Sinker had sliced up for them, they were complimenting Mark on his performance at catching the experiment. "If we knew you were this good, Mark. We'd have let you catch all of the experiments." Lilo commented. "Thanks, Lilo. But that's Stitch's department, really. I only wanted to catch this one so that I wouldn't be completely useless to this Ohana."

The others looked at Mark is surprise and Pleakely asked, "You thought you were no use to us?"

"Yeah. I mean, what've I ever done before today? Making sarcastic and rude comments to everyone. Seriously, this was the only time I ever helped out today. Jumba didn't trust me enough to know that I'd know when we'd be in position. And then the experiment kept getting away from us. There wasn't anything I could do. I just felt completely useless today, until I caught him, that is."

"Naga. Mark not useless." Stitch said to him encouragingly. "Mark put Ohana back on feet." Stitch reminded him. He was right; If Mark didn't remind them that they were only up against another experiment, they would have given up. "Thanks Stitch." Mark said to the little blue alien. When they were ready to leave, Mark picked up the broken anchor with the rope attached to it and put it over his shoulder. "What are you going to do with that?" Lilo asked. "Maybe use it for a grapple hook or something. Not as high-tech as I'd like. But it'll do." Mark answered as he headed back home with his Ohana, feeling just a little more closer to them than he did when the day started.


	8. Chapter 8: Greatest Fear

-1It was Halloween night and the kids were gathering candy from house to house on the island of Kauai. In the Pelekai house, Mark Nissan was dressed in his old agent uniform, while Lilo and Stitch were getting prepared for the night as well. "Come on, Lilo! You're going to be late for the party!" Mark called from downstairs. Lilo's hula instructor was hosting a Halloween party for his students. "In a minute, Mark!" Lilo called back.

It wasn't long before Lilo came down in the elevator. Her costume was, apparently, a dead hula girl. This was possible with proper makeup setting, and a Halloweenish headband that made it look like she was a victim of an ax attack. "Whoa. Nice." Mark complimented. For once, he wasn't being sarcastic about it. "Thanks." Lilo replied. "Where's Stitch?" Mark asked. "He's decided to help Nani out with the trick or treating." Lilo answered. "I see. Well, we better get you over to the party. It's already started." Mark replied before escorting Lilo out of the house and over to the party's location.

Meanwhile, on a house near an abandoned mansion, an experiment pod labeled 300 was caught on a chimney. A slight breeze caused a few palm tree leaves to knock it free. The pod rolled to a drain on the roof, and fell into a barrel of water. The usual glowing occurred and the pod was replaced by a green blob-like experiment. The experiment poked its head out of the barrel and spotted a mouse eating out of a thrown out package of sardines. The experiment "slithered" out of the barrel and, after another flash of green light, turned into a cat and walked up to the mouse. Frightened, the little animal ran away. However, the green light appeared to have attracted a dog.

The experiment turned back into its usual form; however, this appeared to have made the dog even more vicious. The experiment then shape shifted into a dog-catcher. Frightened, the dog ran away. "Nice doggy." the experiment said in a growling voice. The transformations were so precise, that the only way to determine if it was the experiment was to check if the thing had glowing green eyes. The experiment turned into a snake and slithered away from the scene, in search of more victims.

Back at the hula school, Lilo's hula instructor was tending to one of the younger kids. One of them was crying. Apparently, Halloween didn't suit him very well. "Halloween's just for fun, there's nothing to be afraid of." Lilo's teacher kindly offered the crying child before offering him a papaya. It was then that Lilo and Mark had entered the room, and the younger kids began screaming in terror as they saw Lilo. "I'm a dead hula girl." Lilo said simply before playing with the ax handle on her headband. The kid Lilo's teacher was comforting screamed in terror and ran away.

"Lilo…you never said there were going to be younger kids here." Mark said to Lilo. It was then that he knew what was going to happen. Lilo's costume would be considered too frightening for the younger kids and she'd have to go back home and change into something more innocent. Sure enough, he was right. "Maybe you can change into something more like what your friends are wearing." He suggested, showing her what Myrtle and her friends were dressed as. Ironically, they were all dressed as princesses. Lilo pointed this out in a sarcastic tone and Myrtle replied, "At least we're not a weirdo, weirdo, or weirdo."

"Yeahhh." Her friends agreed behind her in unison.

Lilo agreed to change into a princess costume and she and Mark set off back to the house. Back at the house, it appeared that Stitch didn't really not go with Lilo to help Nani pass out the treats; he didn't go with her so that he could EAT the treats. "Hey! That's for the trick-or-treaters!" Nani scolded Stitch when she caught him snacking on the treats. Stitch spit the pre-digested candy back in the bowel obediently.

"What trick-or-treaters? Nobody comes to the weirdo's house." Lilo said from the hallway before heading upstairs to Jumba and Pleakely's room. Nani left the room. When Stitch saw that the coast was clear, he was just about to continue his snacking on the treats when Nani's haunting voice suddenly shouted, "Don't even think about it!" Upon hearing the words, Stitch stopped immediately.

"I am absolutely refusing to be wearing this! Is too itchy!" Jumba complained to Pleakely. Jumba was in a toga outfit. Upon scratching himself; he accidentally pulled the toga over his stomach and his gut popped out. "That is least of problems." Jumba said as he patted his fat belly. "But you have to wear it! The queen of the Nile demands it. Besides, I am not missing out on trick-or-treating on my first ever Hilowanee." Pleakely said as he stepped from behind the curtain. He was dressed as a female Pharaoh.

"It's pronounced Halloween. I need a new costume, a princess. Can you make it quick?" Lilo said to Pleakely. Pleakely appeared to be overjoyed that Lilo would request that of him as he said, "Can I? Well let me tell you, I had the fastest fingers in my primitive-earth-customs pleats and pinking shears class." Pleakely began working on Lilo's new costume right after he had said this.

In Lilo's room. Stitch was looking up Halloween in an encyclopedia listed under "H" while Mark was watching him on the bed. Lilo arrived and Stitch had asked her about it. "It's a federal holiday. Everybody dresses up like zombies and stuff and try to scare you." Lilo explained. "Ah, Stitch never scared." Stitch replied bravely. "That makes two of us." Mark said to him. "I'm not scared of anything either." Lilo replied bravely. Then she thought about it and admitted, "Except broccoli, and clowns, and…that creepy old abandoned house on the hill." The minute she named that last thing, lightning struck near the house, and thunder roared through the area. "Ok…that was just like something you'd expect from a horror movie." Mark commented.

Mark looked back but Lilo and Stitch had disappeared. Mark rolled his eyes and said, "Oh come on you two! It's only a little bit of lightning." Lilo and Stitch cautiously peeked out from under the bed. Lilo then introduced that she has a coping mechanism. Whenever she get scared, she just pulls out her ukulele and sings "Aloha Oe." Although her singing voice was good, the ukulele could have either used a tune-up or she really needed lessons. "Costume's ready!" Pleakely announced when she finished singing.

Pleakely's costume for Lilo was a princess dress; although, it did look more like a bride than a princess. "Story-book princess. Double stitched!" Pleakely displayed as he stretched it out so that it would fit Lilo better. "And now, for the finishing touch." Lilo said before putting on her ax-victim headband. Back at the party, the experiment appeared to have found its way over there and decided to crash it. "Lilo's weird but she's right. We shouldn't all be princesses. One of you gotta change." Myrtle said to her posse. "But this was all your idea. I wanted to be a hockey player." One of her friends replied. The door opened and Lilo stood in the room. However, her head, which had glowing green eyes, was removed from her body and was held under her arm. "Hi guys." She said in a deadpan voice.

Myrtle and her friends freaked out and dove under a refreshment table. Lilo's hula teacher looked under it and asked, "What's going on here?" Before they could answer, there was another flash of green light and a giant spider headed straight for him. He freaked out and ran away and the younger kids freaked out as well. Everyone except for Myrtle and her friends ran out of the building. The place was silent when Mark, Lilo, and Stitch arrived. "You're going to love this party. Lots of food and you can scare Myrtle." Lilo told Stitch. "Myrtle nala queesta!" Stitch exclaimed in a playfully cute tone.

"Wow! They trashed the place. Told you it'd be fun." Lilo said to Stitch when she saw various tables turned over and food all over the floor. "Where'd everybody go?" Mark asked as he went inside. His instinct told him that something wasn't right. However, being that it was Halloween, he decided to put this aside. Stitch engulfed a papaya, spit it out immediately, and said, "Ew. Organic." Lilo went to look around to see if anybody was still there while Stitch sniffed the air and headed for the kitchen. Mark helped Lilo in her search by putting on his shades and activating the thermal vision feature of them. He spotted a group of people hiding under a table and pointed them out to Lilo.

Lilo went over to the table, lifted the cloth, and said, "Hi guys." to Myrtle and her posse. "Stay away from us!" Myrtle shouted in fear. "I changed my costume. See? Now I'm a princess like you guys…only dead." She said to them before playing with the ax handle again. "Keep your head on!" Myrtle shouted at Lilo. "Wow…that was clever, considering it being Halloween and all." Mark commented. "Why are acting so weird?" Lilo asked them. "Us weird? You're the one who doesn't got your head on!" Myrtle replied. Mark had never been so confused.

"My head?" Lilo asked. "Under your arm."

"You had glowing green eyes."

"You were the scariest thing I ever seen." Myrtle's posse replied. Lilo just gave them a questioning look while Mark scratched his head. He couldn't tell if this was a Halloween prank, or if one of Jumba's experiments was on the loose or what.

Stitch was pigging out in the fridge in the kitchen when something caught his eye. He turned around and spotted the angry looking experiment. The experiment turned itself into water and began to flood the kitchen. Stitch was panicking as the water level began to rise. He splashed his way to the counter and climbed on it. He had then made his way up the fridge, along the wall and to the ceiling lamp. However, the water continued to rise.

"Stitch! Where are you? Stitch." Mark and Lilo called out as they began searching the school. Mark and Lilo then noticed that they were standing on a wet floor and the water was coming from the kitchen. "Stitch!?" Mark shouted as he and Lilo ran up to the door. "Mark! Lilo!" Stitch called out desperately. "Hold on Stitch!" Mark called back. The experiment heard his voice and immediately drained into a vent. The kitchen was completely drained of water just as Mark kicked the door open.

Stitch fell from the lamp on onto the floor. "Ow!" He shouted when he hit it. Mark ran over to Stitch, picked him up, and asked, "What happened?" However, the terrified alien could only say, "Hissing green eyes!" over and over again. "You're not…scared are you?" Lilo asked him. "…Naga!" Stitch answered once he had calmed down. "Elana said something about hissing green eyes too." Lilo replied. Stitch shuddered in fear at the words "hissing green eyes." Lilo thought about it and Mark said, "It's got to be another experiment. Either that or this place was haunted all along."

Mark, Lilo, and Stitch were heading back home. Stitch was incredibly jumpy after his near-death experience. An owl hooted and Stitch freaked out, pulling out imaginary blasters and trying to shoot, only to find that he didn't have he weapons. "It was just an owl." Lilo explained. A twig snapped and Stitch jumped and grabbed onto Mark's head. "It was a twig!" Lilo explained again, this time more irritated. Stitch let go of Mark and chuckled nervously.

As they continued the path, Stitch ran into a spider web, and this time, clearly over reacted by tearing a palm tree out of the ground and clearing the forest by swinging it around. "I think you need to come into terms with your fear." Lilo said simply. Stitch planted the tree back in the ground and chuckled nervously again. As they walked away, the tree that Stitch had just planted fell down as well.

Back at the house, Nani was bummed that there were no Trick-or-treaters for yet another Halloween. She reached for the candy but decided against it when a trail of Stitch's saliva made a path between it and the bowel. Suddenly, wooden planks blocked the door's window. "Hey!" Nani shouted in a scolding tone as the other windows were being boarded up too. This pretty much proved it if nothing else did, Stitch was terrified. Terrified enough to board up the house.

In Jumba and Pleakely's room, Jumba and Pleakely were trying on a different set of costumes. Pleakely was dressed as a southern belle and Jumba was dressed as a rich man. "I do declare, we look simply marvelous. Don't we look marvelous? I think we do." Pleakely said in a southern accent. "Frankly, my dear, I am not giving darn. I hate this costume." Jumba complained. "Fine! I'll just start over. Whole new concept! I'm thinking sequins, satin, spade. I got it! Matador! Ole!" Pleakely said as he whipped out a red sheet out of nowhere.

"It's got to be here somewhere." Lilo muttered encouragingly to herself as she searched through Jumba's experiment database? "You sure it was hissing blob?" Jumba asked her. "With green eyes. It scared Stitch" Lilo answered. "Impossible! Nothing scares Six-two-six." Jumba argued. "Tell that to Nani." Mark replied just before Nani shouted, "Lilo! Stitch is boarding up the windows!"

"See?" Lilo asked in an I-told-you-so voice. Jumba just gave her a slight glare.

"Wait…this is it! Experiment 300" Lilo said excitedly as she showed the monitor to the others. "Ah yes. X-300 designed to turn itself into worst fear to scare entire population into submission." Jumba explained. "We have to find it before it gives the whole island the heebie-jeebies." Lilo announced heroically. "Oh, I hope it doesn't come here. His impression of ex-wife is very scary." Jumba explained in fear. "Lilo! He's rearranging the furniture!" Nani yelled from downstairs as Stitch pushed the bookshelf in front of the door. "Don't worry, Mark, me, and Stitch'll get him!" Lilo said before she and Mark left the room. "But with everyone dressed up all scary…it could be anyone!" Pleakely announced fearfully.

A while Later, people were trick-or-treating happily, as they didn't know that a true horror lurked nearby. "It could be anyone." Lilo reminded Stitch and Mark. "Yeah, Pleakely's screams of terror told us that already." Mark replied sarcastically. Lilo gave him a slight glare when Stitch suddenly jumped behind Lilo, thought about it for half a second, and then jumped back where he was. "…I think that was his way of saying that he's got his guard up." Mark said to Lilo. "Right…let's split up." Lilo commanded and she and Mark went in separate directions, while Stitch kept close to Lilo, but hidden behind her.

Lilo turned around, but Stitch dashed out of her view quickly. She turned back the way she was facing and saw Stitch this time. "Splitting up, means going the other way." Lilo reminded him as she set him in the direction he should be heading. "You're not afraid…are you?" Lilo asked Stitch, raising an eyebrow. Stitch just scoffed and stuck his nose in the air, as if he was insulted that she would even think of asking him that. Lilo walked away, Stitch looked back at her, lowered his ears in cowardice, and slowly walked away.

A robot with green eyes walked up to the neighborhood when Lilo went up to it, stopped it, and said, "Face tax."

"Excuse me?" The robot asked in a man's voice. "Sorry. I can't let you through until I see your face, it's the rules." Lilo explained. The robot paused for a moment then lifted its head up and revealed that it was just a regular man in a costume. "No green eyes. Move along." Lilo said as she stepped out of the man's way.

Meanwhile, Mark wasn't having as much luck. "CIA, I'm going to have to see your eyes." Mark tried to fool one man who was wearing a Jason costume, but with no success. "CIA? Please, everyone knows you don't work for them. You were too good for them to even let you join. And why should I show you my eyes?" The man replied. "If I told you that, you wouldn't believe me. Especially around this time of the year." Mark answered. "If I don't know the reason, then I'm not showing." The man said to Mark before trying to continue on his way. "Wait…" Mark groaned. "Fine. We have reason to believe that there's a shape-shifting monster on the loose and the only way to determine which is a real human or not is to check for glowing green eyes…" The man just looked at Mark, laughed a bit and said, "Oh, good one man." Mark gave a miserable look, but the man ignored it and continued on his way, still laughing at what Mark had told him.

Meanwhile, Stitch was incredibly jumpy as a newspaper harmlessly blew into his face; he tore it to shreds out of surprise and instinct. When he finally started to calm down, there was a piece of newspaper sticking cutely out of his mouth. He pause for a moment before spitting it out. Lilo was looking around suspiciously as Stitch was sneaking around with his blaster out and ready to fire. Stitch backed up into a kid wearing a dog costume.

Freaking out, Stitch immediately turned around and fired, wrapping the kid in a pinkish and gooey kind of string. Stitch realized his mistake a moment too late. His mother called for her son and Stitch, freaking out, shot her too. She screamed in terror, and her husband arrived. Stitch shot him out of fear as well. A woman screamed, "A monster!" Lilo heard the cries of terror and said happily, "A terrified citizen…YAY!" as she skipped joyfully over to the area.

Back at the house, Nani was watching a scary movie, knowing that tonight would be yet another uneventful night for her. In the movie a shadowy figure was approaching the house. "A thing is at the door!" A man said. "The monster!" A woman shouted just before screaming in terror. Just as she screamed, the doorbell rang, only this time, it was Nani's doorbell. "Trick-or-Treaters!" Nani said hopefully as she got out of her frightened cringe position and got up to answer the door. Just before Nani opened it, a greenish figure silently shape-shifted into the Social Security agent, Cobra Bubbles. "Oh, Cobra. I didn't know Social workers worked on Halloween. Would you like some candy?" Nani kindly offered. However, Cobra had replied with the one thing Nani had feared most, "I'm here to take Lilo away." Nani gasped in horror and complete confusion.

Meanwhile, back in the neighborhood, Mark heard a scream behind him and saw hundreds of kids and their parents running towards him. The man he had stopped earlier went up to fin, obviously frightened and said to him, "You were looking for the wrong monster, man. The one you need to find has black eyes, not green!" The man then continued running with the others. Mark groaned when he realized who the man was talking about and muttered, "Stitch…" Mark ran the opposite way the people were running, towards the little blue alien. Meanwhile, Lilo noticed all the people covered in a pinkish gooey type of string and she too knew immediately who it was. "Stitch…" she muttered in an upset tone.

Mark caught up with her just ash she said this. "Yeah. I think he still hasn't gotten over his near-death experience. Poor little guy. Halloween is supposed to be about having fun, not being scared out of your mind." Mark replied. Lilo knew exactly what Mark meant. Although Halloween was revolved around fear and evil, you usually see happiness and innocence wherever you went. Kids getting candy and having the time of their lives, not really that frightened about the holiday of fear. "Come on. Let's go find Stitch and go home." Lilo commanded Mark in a defeated tone. They didn't find the experiment, it obviously wasn't here.

A few more kids screamed in fear and ran away. A demonic shadow crept along the ground and bent onto the wall. Then the horns turned out to be large ears. It was later revealed to only be a fearful Stitch. Stitch snuck along the wall and peeked around the corner in terror when a girl called out his name. Stitch screamed and fired without hesitation. Lilo and Mark stepped out from the shadows after he had finished firing. Lilo was covered in the pink, gooey string while it didn't even touch Mark. "Is it just me, or was I completely lucky for once?" Mark asked curiously. Lilo ignored him and told Stitch that they were heading home.

Meanwhile, at the house, Nani was confused, angry, and horrified at Cobra for what he said. "You can't take her away from me! She needs me! I thought we worked this out!" Nani shouted in Lilo's defense. "I'm ssssssss--" Cobra began in a slight hissing voice when Lilo opened the door and saw Cobra and Nani sitting on the couch. Cobra spotted Lilo and got up. Lilo, in pure instinct, took off her headband and threw it at Cobra. It hit his head and knocked off his sunglasses. He opened his eyes and they were glowing green.

Mark immediately pointed his EMP cannon at the experiment disguised as cobra and shouted, "Hold it right there!" The experiment took a step forward and Mark fired his weapon. Instead of an EMP blast, a plasma ball shot out of it. The plasma ball looked something very similar to what Splodyhead would fire from his nose. The experiment dodged the plasma ball easily. "Whoops! Put in the wrong ammo code." Mark said nervously as he began trying to re-enter another code into his upgraded cannons.

Lilo rushed over and grabbed the experiment by the leg. Losing his balance, the experiment hopped back and tripped over the entertainment center. Upstairs, Jumba and Pleakely heard the crash. "What is that?" Jumba asked. "Lilo, no! Have you gone lolo!?" Nani scolded Lilo as she tried to get her off of the experiment's leg. The experiment was still disguised as Cobra. Stitch was hiding behind the record player as this was happening. He slammed the player shut, did a battle cry, and fired his pink gooey string stuff at the experiment's legs, tying them up. "Yeah…right when I put in the last digit too." Mark groaned.

The experiment then turned into a longer form of itself. "Lilo! Who--what is that!?" Nani shouted in shock, still keeping a hold of Lilo's legs. The experiment struggled to get himself free from Lilo's grasp as Lilo answered, "Experiment 300, but I'm calling him Spooky." Spooky suddenly managed to get himself free by separating and then reconnecting his body area where Lilo was holding on to. Lilo and Nani fell back onto the couch. Spooky turned to its regular size and then slithered under the door. "It's getting away!" Lilo shouted. But Mark was still outside and aimed his cannon at Spooky. The experiment just looked at Mark with a sinister grin for a moment, and then suddenly looked confused. Snapping out of his confusion, Spooky turned into a flash of light, forcing Mark to cover his eyes while Spooky continued to slither away.

"Come on, Stitch!" Lilo shouted as she began to give chase to the experiment. Mark recovered from the bright flash that the experiment somehow managed to pull off and just began to go after it when Nani suddenly grabbed him and said, "Hold it! Nobody's going anywhere until I hear the house rules." She turned to Lilo and said, "You?"

"I stick with Mark and Stitch." Lilo instantly replied. "Right. And you?" Nani asked Jumba. "I am to guard Lilo as if she was being delicate flower." Jumba answered. "Mm-hmm. And?" Nani asked Pleakely. Pleakely thought for a moment before replying, "And dog food is for dogs, not for little girls." Mark just gave Pleakely a weird look, but Nani appeared to be satisfied as she let him go, stepped out of their way, and said, "Ok, go ahead."

Mark, Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakely were all chasing the experiment as fast as they could. A fallen tree was blocking their way, but Mark avoided it completely by using that new grapple of his while Lilo and Stitch simply climbed over it. Pleakely, however, tripped and fell in the mud before he could even get to it. "Hey you guys, wait up!" Jumba called out to them, but they were too far away to hear. Pleakely took off his shoes and commented, "These matador slippers are pretty, but highly impractical!"

Spooky slithered to the front yard of the abandoned house, looked behind him, and continued on his way; sensing his hunters to be close by. Mark, Lilo, and Stitch made it to the front yard. Mark kept going but Lilo and Stitch stopped. "Oh no. I've seen this movie…and I didn't like the ending." Lilo said when she saw that the abandoned house was the very one she had always been afraid of. Mark stopped, looked back, and asked, "What's wrong? Spooky's inside. We still have to catch it."

"Well…good luck then." Lilo said slyly before attempting to walk away as Stitch did the same. "Hold it! That's just not fair." Mark complained. "What isn't?" Lilo asked. "You make Stitch try to catch this experiment when he's downright terrified of it, and you can't bring yourself to go into one old, abandoned mansion? Come on, Lilo. Stitch shouldn't be the one who always does the hard stuff. We all need to face our own share of fears." Mark answered. Lilo thought about what he said and saw his point and cautiously walked up to the house with Mark sticking close by.

As Mark and Lilo were walking toward the house, they noticed that Stitch was missing and turned around. Stitch was hiding behind the leaf of a palm tree that was still in its early growing stages. "Ha. Oh no, no, no." Stitch said to them as he hid behind the leaf even more. "Come on Stitch. In the movie, the hero always has to face the monster." Lilo explained. "Yeah." Mark agreed. Stitch lowered the leaf and said simply, "You go." before quickly pulling it back up over his nose. "We all go. " Lilo said before dragging him out from behind the leaf. Stitch dug his claws into the ground, not wanting to get any closer to the house. Lightning strikes were setting the mood, but Mark wasn't the least bit intimidated by them. It was a different Story for Lilo and Stitch, however.

Lilo gulped and Stitch nudged her to the door and said, "Oh, chunga bey."

"No, you." Lilo replied pushing him in front of her. "Nu-uh. Chunga bey!" Stitch said as he grabbed her arm. Mark rolled his eyes and went in first. Lilo sighed and said to Stitch, "Ok, I'll go." Lilo slowly went to the door and opened it as she began singing Aloha Oe. Once she was inside, her voice echoed eerily throughout the empty house. Mark was nowhere to be seen, he must have moved on in search of Spooky. The house looked like it used to belong to a rich family. There were portraits of many different people lining the walls and floor and cobwebs took up the upstairs railing. Lilo was singing her song when the door slammed behind her and Stitch. They both screamed in shock and Stitch grasped on to her and shivered in fear.

A shadowy figure crept in front of them. "There he is!" Lilo shouted as she followed the shadow, dragging Stitch with her. She and Stitch wound up in a pool room when they lost Spooky. "Ooh! Bunda!" Stitch exclaimed in fear as he almost fell into the pool, which was still filled with water. "I know you're afraid of water, Stitch. But you can borrow my coping mechanism." Lilo said before singing Aloha Oe again. As she said this, two giant hands extended from behind a pillar and slowly went for her. Stitch screamed in fear but Lilo thought he was just over reacting. Stitch then pointed behind her rapidly while whimpering in fear. Lilo carefully looked behind her just as a creepy clown's face with glowing green eyes poked out from behind the pillar. Lilo screamed and Stitch jumped 30 feet in the air, literally, before splashing into the pool.

Lilo called out for Stitch as she saw him struggling to keep his head above the water. The clown laughed evilly at her as it slowly walked up to her. Lilo turned around and climbed to the top of a broken pillar that was right behind her. She saw the diving board from where she was at and jumped to it, just as the clown swiped at her, breaking the pillar even more. Lilo bounced off of the diving board and grabbed onto a ledge in the wall. Spooky continued to laugh evilly when someone tapped its shoulder. It turned around just as Mark head-butted him with enough force to send him flying across the room. "Nobody harms my Ohana!" Mark shouted furiously at Spooky.

Spooky shook the pain out of his head and transformed into his original form. Spooky looked at Mark in confusion. He sensed that Mark was indeed afraid of something but couldn't transform into it for some reason. "Little girl! Six-two-six! Mark Car-person!" Jumba suddenly called out from the distance. Jumba's voice drew Mark's attention and the experiment slithered away when Mark wasn't looking. "Stitch!! Help!!" Lilo cried out. Mark snapped back to Lilo and then to where the experiment used to be and realized that Spooky had disappeared. Mark kicked an old plank of wood into the pool and Stitch grabbed onto it.

"Stitch, save Lilo. I need to make sure that Spooky doesn't try to harm anyone else." Mark commanded and explained to Stitch before running after the experiment, although he had no idea where Spooky was now. "Lilo?" Stitch questioned as he looked up to the ledge that Lilo was hanging off of. A piece of the ledge broke and now she was hanging on by just one had. "Help!" she shouted in a more frightened and desperate tone.

Meanwhile, Jumba and Pleakely were searching the house for Mark, Lilo, and Stitch. "You and your ridiculous slippers." Jumba muttered to Pleakely. Pleakely suddenly gasped and Jumba asked him, "What is it?" Pleakely took off his beret in respect and said, "I never thought I'd live to se…such craftsmanship!" Pleakely was talking about the ancient archway that separated the main room from the dining room. "They just don't make them like this anymore." Pleakely continued. Jumba rolled his eyes and explained to Pleakely, "this being no time to be admiring architecture, is time for to catch monster." Pleakely suddenly got upset and began to scold Jumba about having at least a slight appreciation for an antique doorway when an old woman's voice called out from somewhere in the room, "Pleakely, is that you?"

Pleakely looked in the direction the voice was coming from and saw as Spooky's version of his mother walked out of the shadows and asked in a stern voice, "How come you never call!?" Pleakely suddenly cringed in fear and shouted in realization, "Mother!" Meanwhile, back at the pool, Lilo was still hanging helplessly from the ledge and Stitch was too frightened to move. Frightened of the water, frightened for Spooky, frightened that Lilo was going to fall to her death. Then Stitch remembered Lilo's coping method and decided to try it himself. "Aloha Oe…Aloha Oe." Stitch began to sing and he finally built up the courage to make his way over to the edge of the pool.

Stitch reached for the diving board; but it was just out of his reach and he accidentally fell in the water. He splashed in panic for a bit, but then calmed down and drifted to the bottom. He stood up and realized that he was fine. Just as long as he didn't try to breath under the water. "Aloha Oe, Aloha Oe." Stitch began to sing at its normal tempo now as he made his way out from under the pool and to the surface. Stitch made it just as Lilo finally lost her grip and fell. Stitch rushed over and caught her right on time. "Told you the song works." Lilo said to him cheerfully. They heard Pleakely scream and Lilo knew immediately who it was. At the same time, Mark also heard Pleakely scream and ran in the direction of his voice. Mark figured that it was probably just a spider, knowing Pleakely, but he couldn't afford to take that chance.

Spooky was scolding a crying Pleakely, "I give you the best years of my life and this is the thanks I get?" Jumba entered the room and said, "Oh no! Is Pleakely's worst fear." Jumba took a step forward, but then Spooky transformed again and turned to Jumba, who immediately backed away as if he was scared for his life. "Is MY worst fear: Ex-wife!" Jumba revealed in a frightened tone. "When you are getting a real job? Is not like you are help around house!" Spooky nagged Jumba. Mark arrived and pointed his cannon at Spooky, who just transformed back into his original form and glared at Mark. Jumba looked at Mark in a confused tone and asked, "Your worst fear is of experiment?" Mark kept his focus on Spooky and replied to Jumba, "No. He just can't transform into my worst fear." This explanation left Jumba even more confused.

Stitch suddenly arrived and tackled Spooky to the ground. Seeing that Stitch had concord his own fear, Mark lowered his weapon and decided to let Stitch handle it. Spooky transformed into his extended original form and quickly slithered into the dinging room. Stitch chased the experiment; keeping as close it as possible and breaking many chairs along the way. The experiment suddenly stopped and turned into this water-monster and roared fiercely at Stitch. Stitch just stuck out his chest bravely to show Spooky that he wasn't afraid of water so much anymore. Spooky then, quite suddenly, turned into a fierce tornado. Stitch just calmly checked his claws and said boringly, "Naga Verunda." Spooky had then transformed into a hideous monster with purple splotches, large dark-green claws, and several spines sticking from his back. Stitch just yawned, curled up, and pretended to sleep peacefully.

Spooky looked bewildered as he changed into is extended original form and looked at Stitch from above. Spooky then glared at Stitch when the little blue alien simply point his fist upward, while still in the sleeping position, and pulled off an uppercut. His incredible strength struck fear into Spooky himself. Spooky quickly, and fearfully, slithered under the door and into the living room. The only difference between the main room and the living room was that the living room had two ancient fireplaces to go with everything else. Spooky checked behind him to see if Stitch was following him. When he didn't see Stitch, he sighed in relief. Suddenly, Stitch swung through the door on a chandelier and knocked Spooky near the second fireplace.

Spooky tried to go for the other door as quickly as he could, but Stitch grabbed a hold of the large rug that lead to the doorway and whipped Spooky in the air, sending him flying in Stitch's direction. As he was flying through the air, Spooky noticed the fireplace and immediately transformed into a bat and attempted to make his escape through it. However, Stitch had other plans. Stitch climbed up the fireplace as fast as he could and obviously caught up with Spooky. After a short struggle, Stitch burst out from the fireplace with Spooky in his grip, struggling to get free.

"Here ya go, pal!" Mark called out to Stitch as he tossed him an experiment capsule. Stitch stuck Spooky under on of his arms, caught the capsule, and then shoved Spooky inside of it. Spooky glared at Stitch in his bat form, then transformed into his original form, and glared at Stitch again. Stitch laughed victoriously, Mark rewarded Stitch with his usual stroking the head, and Lilo congratulated Stitch on catching yet another experiment. "Yes, but how are we finding place it belongs? Is too scary." Jumba asked. Lilo and Mark then looked at each other, nodded, and then Lilo replied to Jumba, "Maybe, he's just scary enough."

Later, at the house, Nani was getting ready for bed when she heard people saying, "Trick or treat." She poked her head into the living room and noticed that the longest trick-or-treating line in the history of Halloween was leading to her house. "Lilo, what is going on here?" Nani asked Lilo, who innocently replied, "Halloween, watch." A kid dressed up as a ghost walked up and held out his bag when Spooky, who was standing behind Stitch, suddenly turned into a snake and hissed at him. The kid screamed and then laughed and replied, "I hate snakes!" Stitch had then put a few handfuls of candy in the kid's bag and said, "Ta-ta!"

The kid had then mentioned that the Pelekai house was the coolest place in the whole neighborhood. Lilo looked at Spooky, who stole a few pieces of candy and began eating them, and said, "Yeah. I know a year-round haunted house where you'll fit in just fine." Nani smiled at her sister's brilliance. "Eh, one thing confuses Jumba." Jumba suddenly said. "Mark, why Experiment 300 not able to transform into your worst fear?" Jumba asked Mark. They all looked at Mark in astonishment, Stitch and Spooky almost forgot about the many trick-or-treaters lined up at their house.

"Well, I guess the simplest explanation is that I'm not afraid of any THING or any BODY. However, I am afraid of an event that could possibly happen. My guess is that Spooky couldn't transform into my worst fear is because he can only transform into an object, animal, or person. He can't transform into an event." Mark explained as best as he could. They all just looked at him for a few seconds before his lengthy, yet completely logical, explanation sunk in.

"Oh…so, what IS being greatest fear for Mark?" Jumba asked him. "What? You expect me to tell you and ruin the surprise? No way! You'll all find out when the time comes." Mark answered. They all groaned in disappointment; they expected Mark to tell them right then and there. However, none of them would find out just yet that Mark's greatest fear was losing them. However, one day, they would.


	9. Chapter 9: Flaws With Perfection

-1"Don't call him that! He's your son and his name is Mark. Not the miracle child! Honestly, sometimes I think he's got the right idea to be so mad at you." The kind woman said to the tough looking man. Mark huffed in offense from what his father said and walked out of the room. The man looked at his son, wondering how long he'd been standing there. "He's heard the whole thing if that's what you're wondering." His mother told his father in a stern voice.

Mark headed up the stairs and to his room. While in there, he could hear his mother scolding his father but couldn't exactly make out what she was saying. Mark knew that his father wouldn't dare argue with his mother; it was his way of trying to be a good husband, although he wasn't too good of a father. In his father's eyes, Mark was never good enough. No matter what he did, he was never good enough to be appreciated by the ex-military officer. Then Mark was found to be too good for the CIA. Now that he was finally seen as worthy in his father's eyes. However, now his father never saw him for more than anything than someone for public display.

There was a knock at the door and Mark opened it. It was his father, with his head down and his beret off, showing his balding head. Mark had a sudden urge to slam the door, but he resisted and opened the door further and lay down on the bed. "Listen, Mark. Your mother pointed out that I haven't exactly been the best father in the world."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Mark replied sarcastically and harshly.

He was still upset at his father, and with good reason. "Ok…I probably deserved that--" His father began when Mark suddenly snapped, "Probably? Probably?! Probably doesn't cut it. My whole life you've been treating me like I'm nothing--literally nothing. And then when I'm finally seen as worthy of your respect, you suddenly decide to show it by displaying me as the miracle child! No, dad. Probably isn't the word I would have used."

"I know. And…I'm sorry." His father said in sadness. Mark looked at his father; not in anger and repulse, but in surprise and acceptance. It was the first time his father had actually said those two words to him. Of course, he should have seen it coming, but it still caught him off guard. Mark couldn't help it. For the very first time, he forgave his father. Mark got up off his bed, walk over to his father, put a hand on his father's shoulder, and replied, "It's alright. Just…try not to do it again." Mark's father nodded and said smiling, "Noted, son." Then Mark and his father hugged and made up their years worth of anger at each other.

Mark suddenly sat up in his bead, tears running down his eyes again. It was just another dream. Another Flashback. He knew what day he was dreaming about too; the day they died in that car accident. Mark was wiping the tears from his face when he felt a certain weight on his legs. He looked where his legs would be and spotted Stitch curled up and sleeping on top of them. Mark smiled upon seeing Stitch. He figured that Stitch heard him in the middle of the night and decided to sleep next to him to help him feel better. Stitch was successful. He reminded Mark that although he missed his old family, he had a new one that cared about him just the same.

A few hours later, Mark, Lilo, and Stitch were walking down the sidewalk. "Ok guys, you let me do the talking. I'm sure I can convince her to help us." Lilo said as she looked up and down the street for any cars before crossing. After seeing that there were none, the trio crossed the street. "Oh-kee tuckah!" Stitch replied. "He's right; there's no way she'd listen to any of us." Mark said in favor of Stitch. "I know she can be mean sometimes, but I have a feeling that this time will be different." Lilo replied to both of them. "People don't change that easily Lilo; if they did, then the whole family wouldn't constantly be so angry at me all the time." Mark replied.

"I'm not saying she'll change, I'm just saying that maybe she'll help us this one time. I mean, it's for a good cause, right?" Lilo replied before knocking on the front door of a house they had arrived at. Myrtle answered the door, followed by her usual posse. Upon seeing Lilo, Myrtle immediately glared at her and asked in her usually harsh tone, "What do YOU want?" Lilo simply kept her happy face on and replied, "My sister Nani's throwing a big dinner for charity on Friday night."

"So?" Myrtle asked harshly. "I knew this was going to happen." Mark whispered to Stitch so that only he could hear. "Ih." Stitch replied, lowering his ears.

"I thought we could put the past behind us and join together…in the spirit of Kokua. What do ya say?" Lilo replied to Myrtle. Myrtle answered by simply pointing at Stitch and saying, "Your doggie is so ugly, it makes my eyes hurt."

"Yeahhh!" Myrtle's posse began before screaming in terror and retreating to the back of the house as Mark suddenly snapped and went for Myrtle. Myrtle joined them in going inside for cover. Mark could only get to the doorway as Lilo and Stitch were struggling just to keep him from going any further. "YOU, TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!!" Mark demanded furiously at Myrtle. Myrtle was shaking in fear, too terrified at Mark's overwhelming anger to even utter an apology.

Stitch quickly let go of Mark, ran up in front of him, and then began pushing him out of the house. Once Mark was out of the house, Myrtle gained enough courage to go up to the door, call him a freak, and then slam the door on them. This only made things worse as now Mark was now pushing Stitch back. Thinking fast, Stitch jumped up and grabbed onto Mark's shoulder. The sudden extra weight sent Mark falling backwards. Lilo and Stitch then began dragging Mark back to their house as he shook his fist at the door and began shouting things like, "You're lucky these two were here!"and "Let me go! I'm gonna get that little--!" However, despite what he was saying, Mark was always decent enough to not harm children or anyone younger than he was. So, he never planned on harming Myrtle, just merely yelling at her would have been enough for him.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Nani was hiring some performers for her charity dinner while Jumba and Pleakely were sitting on the couch watching TV. "You're available? That's great! I have plenty of room for your dancing poodles. …You charge how much? Yeah, the thing is, it's a charity event and we were hoping--hello? Hello?" Nani groaned furiously and said, "Well, I didn't get Pete and his prancing poodles. What am I going to do?" Nani tossed the phone behind her, which flew over Jumba's head, bounced off the lamp, hit Pleakely's head, and landed on Jumba's arm. "If you're looking for entertainment, I suggest you hire on of these." Pleakely said before changing the channel and saying, "It's called a stand-up comedian."

The channel Pleakely had turned to had a man who was making jokes about his overweight body. Jumba, being a little fat himself, scoffed at the comedian and asked, "Why is making fun of overly rotund self?"

"Well, Earthlings develop a sense of humor about themselves in order to keep from being hurt by others. It's fascinating. In fact--" Pleakely began before Jumba suddenly said, "Oh, no. I know that look in your eye." Pleakely just gave Jumba a look and said, "Don't worry, this isn't like the time I wanted to be an Ice Dancer."

Nani was pacing as she spoke to a band on the phone. "Yes, I know you're a busy band but my first, second, third, fourth, and fifth band choices have all declined so--. Hello?" Nani began massaging her forehead in frustration when Pleakely walked up to her, took the phone, and said, "Nani, your entertainment booking troubles are over!" Pleakely threw the phone behind him and Jumba caught it without even looking.

"Your charity dinner will be my debut as…a stand-up comedian! Whadda say? Huh? Huh?" Pleakely continued, tugging Nani's pant legs as if begging for the position. Nani replied, "If I let you perform, will you do the catering too?" Obviously the answer was yes as Pleakely suddenly turned to Jumba and said excitedly, "Did ya hear that? She said ok! I have my first gig! I'm legit!" Pleakely then elbowed the air with pride and then, as if getting this idea suddenly, he continued, "I'm going to go buy a new outfit! Something that screams hilarity and comes with matching shoes." Pleakely then walked out the door and put on his wig.

"Eh, Jumba does not understand this charity business. There's no evil in it so what is point?" Jumba said as he handed the phone to Nani. "There's plenty evil organizing it, that's for sure." Nani said in anger. "I don't--" She began when she heard the sounds of struggling. "Let me go! She's gonna pay for that!!" Mark shouted as Lilo and Stitch dragged him inside the house. The instant they let him go, he jumped up and ran for the door, but Nani's arm was too quick for him as she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back in. Unlike with Lilo and Stitch, Mark didn't even bother to struggle to get himself free from Nani; he just crossed his arms and gave a miserable look.

"What is going on here?" Nani asked all three of them. "Myrtle, apparently, doesn't think that Charity is important." Lilo answered. "So her family's not coming?" Nani asked in a worried tone. "No, she called Stitch ugly and laughed at us." Lilo replied. "Lika boo chifa." Stitch muttered. "Oh, Lilo. That's mean, making fun of how people look." Nani began when Mark interrupted, "Glad you think so.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go over there and give that Myrtle Edmunds a piece of my--" Mark was interrupted as Nani stopped him from leaving again. Nani turned her attention back to Lilo and continued, "But you just gotta--" She was interrupted again by a sudden ring of the phone. She answered it, and said, "Aloha? Oh! Yeah, thanks for calling back. I was wondering if you'd be interested in donating 250 pounds of Poi. It's for charity."

Obviously hurt by what Myrtle had called Stitch; Lilo went up to her room and beckoned Stitch to follow her. Meanwhile, at Gantu's ship, Gantu was trying to meditate as Six-two-five was making a large sandwich. "Hey Gantu, hope you don't mind but some charity organization thing came around asking for donations." The little yellow experiment announced. "I can't hear you blabbing over my deep calming breaths." Gantu said aloud, more to himself than Six-two-five. Gantu breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly.

"So I gave them your cloths, and your bed, and that stuffed teddy bear thing you sleep with." Six-two-five continued. "I am at PEACE!!" Gantu shouted as he smashed the sandwich with such force that it sent the experiment flying back, and shook the whole ship. "I can see that." Six-two-five replied sarcastically as he sat up. At that moment, the computer voice announced, "Warning: Experiment 322 activated. Primary function: Undermine enemy moral with verbal abuse."

"Verbal abuse? Like insults? An experiment that doesn't melt, blow up, or implode anything? Like stealing candy from a baby." Gantu thought aloud before equipping himself with his usual blaster and experiment capsule and leaving the ship. Meanwhile, at a hotel, the manager was giving some people a tour when a voice called out, "For the love of Mike, is that a dead rat on your head?"

"Pardon me?" The manager replied, not the slightest bit amused.

An orange experiment with a bow-tie mark on his chest walked into view and said, "Don't worry about it, most people won't notice your toupee, 'cause they'll be blinded by that tacky shirt!" The tourists seemed to find this hilarious. The experiment simply smiled and said, "It is good to be me." The next day, at the house, Pleakely was performing in front of Mark, Lilo, Stitch, and Jumba. "And what is the deal with those tricky sharks and dolphins? They look exactly alike, except one will swim ya to safety, and the other will eat ya alive. Can we get a warning sign or something?" Pleakely expected them to be hysterical, but none of them were laughing.

"That's it. That's the punch line. You're supposed to be laughing now. Come on everybody, laughing. Ha, ha!" Pleakely announced in an encouraging tone. "But…it wasn't funny." Lilo admitted. "Indeed; we've all heard that shark thing over a million times, Pleakely." Mark responded. "But I constructed the joke with a punch line format and it was based on personal experience." Pleakely thought aloud.

"Still not funny." Jumba said dully. "Ok, ok I get it! But still, by all technical measures, my jokes SHOULD be funny." Pleakely said before scratching his head with the microphone he was holding and continuing, "I guess I'm just missing something…" Pleakely then pulled the microphone away from his head quickly, yanking the orange-haired wig he was wearing off his head. "Early retirement?" Jumba asked boredly.

"Quit stealing my lines!" Mark scolded Jumba. "Pebooz?" Stitch asked cutely. "Nope, more research!" Pleakely answered as he put the wig back on and began skipping away. "Take your time!" Mark told Pleakely as the eager alien skipped out of the room. "Perhaps Jumba will create evil genius device to replace stand-up act." Jumba said once Pleakely was gone. As he said this, Jumba looked as if he was starting to go slightly insane.

A little while later, Lilo and Stitch were taking a walk alone this time because Mark wasn't allowed to leave the house for a week due to his recent outburst on Myrtle. "Pleakely's hopeless. I wish we could help him but I don't have the slightest idea how to be funny." Lilo said to Stitch, who replied, "Meega naga." Suddenly, the orange experiment from the hotel jumped over the orange stand they were standing next to and slid down it. The oranges fell off the stand, causing Lilo and Stitch to be buried underneath them. They had just poked their heads out of the orange pile when a plasma beam suddenly shot right past them, causing them to scream in surprise.

"Out of my way! I've got an experiment to catch!" Gantu said eagerly to them as her ran after the experiment. "Come on!" Lilo commanded Stitch as she swam out of the orange pile. Stitch decided to stop and eat some free fruit while he had the chance before Lilo dragged him away. The experiment was rushing through a park near the beach. As he stole a basketball from a player, he said, "Nice D. Or should I say d-minus?" He ditched the ball and ran through the park into the beach itself. Dodging and jumping over people, the experiment was as quick with his legs as he was with his wit, as he bounced off a woman and said, "Excuse me sir…I mean madam."

Soon, Gantu arrived, causing the people to scurry out of the way to avoid getting crushed, and was closely followed by Lilo and Stitch. Gantu dove for the experiment, but it jumped out of his range just in time, causing Gantu to fall face-down in the sand. Gantu looked up. The experiment obviously couldn't resist teasing the klutzy alien shark as he said, "Missed me, missed me. Now you gotta kiss me. But whew, buy a breath mint first!" Offended, Gantu grabbed the experiment and said harshly, "Quiet, freak!"

Gantu got up and began to run, but Stitch curled into a ball and tripped him by rolling under one of his giant feet. Gantu flipped backwards in the air a complete 270 degrees, causing him to fall face-first in the sand again. Gantu looked up, his entire face covered in beach-sand. The experiment forced itself free, took one look at Gantu, laughed, and said, "If I were you, I'd be trying to bury my ugly mug too."

"Hey, he's mean. And it's funny." Lilo pointed out as Stitch chuckled a bit at the insult Gantu had just received. "Why you little--" Gantu began as he shook the sand off his face and swung at the experiment, trying to grab him, but the experiment jumped out of the way and landed next to Lilo and Stitch and said to them, "You guys get a load of that swing?" The experiment then turned back to Gantu and continued, "looks like your mug ain't the only ugly thing around here." Lilo and Stitch laughed again. "And what's with that uniform? You pretending to be a cop or something?" The experiment asked Gantu, who replied, "Well, no. I'm--" Before he could explain, the experiment interrupted, "Not a cop. My mistake. Cops are smart and brave. You're obviously the mayor."

"What?" An appalled Gantu asked. "The mayor of loserville." The experiment finished. This was, apparently, the final straw for Gantu as he suddenly reached for the experiment, but was stopped when Stitch suddenly bit his hand before it got anywhere within grabbing range. Lilo, spotting the opportunity, grabbed the orange experiment and pulled it away from Gantu. "Don't worry about Stitch. He'll catch up." Lilo said to the experiment. "You really told Gantu off. You're funny. I think I'll call you Heckler." Lilo said cheerfully. "Who died and made you name-giver?" Heckler asked harshly. "Well nobody, it's like my job." Lilo answered. "Well maybe you should be fired." Heckler commented rudely.

Stitch arrived by air and tackled Heckler. "Stitch! Be nice to Heckler. He can help us figure out how to save Pleakely's comedy act." Lilo reminded him. "Plus, I'm curious to see how he handles a certain someone. Someone who's name begins with an 'M' and ends with an 'yrtle.'" Lilo said as she got that sly, vengeful look in her eyes.

A while later, Lilo knocked on Myrtle's door. She answered and looked around for Mark. When she saw that he wasn't there, she asked harshly, "What do you want, weird-lo?" Lilo simply smiled sweetly and said, "Oh, nothing. Just a good laugh." Then she stepped sideways to reveal Heckler and continued, "Do your thing, Heckler." Heckler took one look at Myrtle and instantly found her weak points.

"Wow. I don't know where to start. Is the clown still chasing you?" Heckler asked. "What clown?" Myrtle replied. "The clown you stole that fright wig you call hair from." Myrtle gasped in humiliation and tried to hide her hair, but Heckler still had his bits to say. "And those glasses. Let me guess, you're going for a career in welding?" Myrtle angrily slammed the door on them. Lilo and Stitch were busting up laughing at what Heckler was saying to Myrtle.

A while later, Lilo and Stitch brought Heckler over to their house. Heckler took one look at the place and said, "You call this home? If you look up shanty in the dictionary, you get a picture of this place. I've seen nicer cardboard boxes on skid row." Stitch was obviously offended by this and ran for Heckler. Lilo intercepted and said, "Back off, Stitch. He's right; our house is kind of a dump." Stitch just lowered his ears in fear from being scolded. Lilo dragged Heckler up to the house.

"I know you're donating tables out of the kindness of your heart, but we're expecting a large turnout and we need more than two." Nani said on the phone to someone who had donated a few tables for her charity event. "Uh…" Lilo said to her sister. However, Nani ignored her and continued, "So if you could--" Then the person she was calling had hung up on her yet again. "Hello?" She said into the phone again, with no reply. Frustrated, she threw the phone behind her. "Somebody needs to be introduced to a little concept called anger management." Heckler commented loudly. "Oh great. What's this one? Unless it's a charity organizer experiment, I'm not in the mood." Nani said angrily.

"Nani, this is Heckler. Heckler, Nani." Lilo introduced. "How're you doing, hippo-hips." Heckler greeted rudely. "What did he say?" Nani asked in shock. Lilo just laughed and said, "That's a good one, Heckler."

"Why are you laughing?" Nani asked Lilo, who innocently replied, "Because it's true. You do have hippo hips."

"What!?" Nani asked in a mixture of repulse and anger.

Heckler spotted Mark sitting on the couch reading and walked up to him. "…Ok…I've got nothing for this guy." Heckler announced. Then Mark came into the room and saw himself sitting on the couch. He just stared at his double for a moment, then turned to the archway he had just came through and shouted, "Jumba!! What did I tell you about leaving your hologram projectors lying around!?"

"I've got nothing for that guy either." Heckler admitted, pointing to the real Mark.

Jumba had then entered the room, pushing Mark out of the way and asking, "Did I just hear what I am thinking? Experiment three-two-two, is that you?" Jumba spotted Heckler and then said as if greeting a friend he hadn't seen in years, "You look good."

"You too; if by 'good' you mean bald, four-eyed, and ugly." Heckler replied. Jumba simply laughed and said, "Yes, that's three-two-two alright. Programmed to destroy enemy's self-confidence by mercilessly taunting and humiliating him--one of the best ideas I've ever had." Jumba explained as He held the experiment up and allowed Stitch to climb on his shoulder.

"More like, ONLY idea you've ever had. Which explains why you're stuck on this Podunk planet with these losers. Except for that guy. I can tell he's awesome just by loo--" Heckler rambled on before Jumba interrupted by shoving Stitch in Heckler's mouth. "Jumba! What'd you go and do that for!?" Mark scolded at Jumba as he tried to get Stitch out of Heckler's mouth. "Get rid of that thing now." Nani commanded in a deadly quiet tone. "But he's funny." Lilo argued with a sad look on her face.

Mark finally managed to get Stitch out of Heckler's mouth; upon which, Heckler pointed to Stitch and commented, "You taste like old socks." Mark released Stitch, who said, "Ohh! Naga toto!" and pounced on Heckler. As if she didn't see any of this happening, Nani replied to Lilo, "Making fun of people's shortcomings not only isn't funny, it isn't nice." Lilo just crossed her arms and replied angrily, "You just don't have a sense of humor."

Nani sighed, started dialing on the phone, and said, "I don't have time to argue about this right now. You keep that thing out of my sight until after the event. Got it?" Lilo remained silent. Nani had then called the table donor back and apologized about requesting more tables, and said that, now that she had thought about it, they were the perfect size for the charity event.

Nani had then entered the kitchen, just as Heckler and Stitch stopped fighting. Lilo turned to Jumba and asked, "Where's Pleakely."

"Outside, practicing un-comedy routine." Jumba answered simply. Out side, Pleakely had pulled some lame joke about Washington to a surfboard when Lilo, Stitch, and Heckler arrived. "Where'd this guy learn comedy? A funeral parlor? 'Cause he's gonna die out there." Heckler commented from a safe distance. "Can you help him?" Lilo asked. Heckler looked at Pleakely and then replied, "There's only one thing I can think of to get this guy's stand-up fun to watch."

A while later, Heckler had given Lilo and Stitch a few tomatoes. "Tomatoes?" Lilo asked. "Adaba." Stitch agreed. "Ever since the first loser slipped on a banana peel; comedy's been all about laughing at other people's expense, right?" Heckler asked. "I guess" Lilo answered. "So if a guy's jokes aren't funny, you can at least get a yuk or two out of throwing tomatoes at him." Heckler replied. "I don't know. These look big, they could hurt." Lilo said thoughtfully. "That's why you use the rotten ones, genius." Heckler replied rudely. "Well…you're the comedy expert." Lilo concluded, figuring that Heckler knew best.

A while later, Nani place the table cloth neatly over one of the large tables that were donated to her. Lilo and Stitch arrived and began placing the plates, silverware, and rotten tomatoes on the table. "Lilo, what are you doing?" Nani asked when Lilo and Stitch had made one pass on table one. "Don't worry, Nani. Everything's perfectly under control, thanks to Heckler." Lilo answered her sister just before a woman came storming out of the kitchen, crying her eyes out. "I quit!" She said through sobs as she took off her apron and ran to the stage.

"Leilani! Wait! I don't understand; what happened?" Nani said to the waitress, who replied, "I've been trying to lose weight. But this apron makes me look like a big fat penguin!" Leilani answered. "What!? Says who?" Nani asked when suddenly, they were interrupted once again as the chef came storming out of the kitchen, saying in anger, "I quit too! This hat DOES make me look like a dweeb." The chef had then threw his hat down and stomped away. Heckler left the kitchen, looking quite pleased with himself as he said, "Man these people are easy. Talk about low self-esteem! Who's next? I'm on a roll."

Nani suddenly looked furious at her sister and scolded her angrily, "Lilo! I've spent 3 days trying to pull together a crew for this, and your experiment is insulting them right out the door."

"But…he makes me laugh." Lilo tried to argue, when Heckler suddenly bumped in from behind her and said, "Not hard to do, small-fry; you're gigglier than 2 packs of laughing hyenas."

"Hey!" Lilo replied in an insulted tone. "But giggling beats that whine of yours. 'Stiiiiiiiitch' ouch. Fingernails meet blackboard. Blackboard, fingernails." Lilo slouched in sadness as she took the insults head-on. "Oh, and Mrs. Hasegawa called, she wants that potato you're using for a nose back."

Lilo checked her nose, worried about being embarrassed by other people, before saying, "Hey. That's not funny."

"Typical. It's only funny when it's the other guy. Well, it's been real. But I gotta run." Heckler replied before heading for the door. "Get him, Stitch." Lilo commanded. Stitch gave her a mischievous smile and said, "Finally." Unfortunately, before Stitch could do anything, there was a loud crash and Gantu was on the other side of a hole in the wall that his blaster had made. "Alright, earthlings. Hand over the trog!" Gantu demanded.

"Perfect. You know what? You want him? Take him!" Nani said as she gladly took Heckler and tossed him into Gantu's grip. "Nani, no! He's Ohana. We have to find his one-true place. We can't just--" Lilo began when Heckler suddenly said, "Again with the Ohana and the one true place. I see you've read two phrases of the dictionary cover-to-cover." Insulted and angry. Lilo turned her nose up, shooed Gantu away and said, "Take him."

"Gladly." Gantu replied before walking away. "You two deserve each other!" Lilo shouted after them. "Stitch, fix the door so I can slam it on them." Lilo commanded. Stitch did as he was told, and rather quickly too as the door and wall was perfectly rebuilt in seconds. Lilo marched up to the door and shouted after them, "And for the record, my nose does NOT look like a potato!" before slamming it with such anger, it was a miracle that the hole wasn't re-made.

"What's going on?" Mark asked as he entered the area. Quickly remembering that two of her crew members had quit, Nani slyly looked at Mark and said, "Mark. Just the person I've been looking for." Mark, having no idea what Nani wanted him to do, simply slouched over miserably and groaned quietly.

Meanwhile, at Gantu's ship. Gantu was prepping Heckler to be transported to Hamsterviel. "Mayor of loserville indeed." Gantu said in victory at Heckler. "Mayor of loserville? That's a good one." Six-two-five said before laughing at Gantu and taking another bite our of his sandwich. Gantu called Hamsterviel and said, "Dr. Hamsterviel, I've finally caught an experiment. It insults people."

"Is that all!? I am perfectly capable of insulting other people in my own genius fashion, you rubber-headed rubber fish thing!" Hamsterviel replied angrily. "Rubber-headed rubber fish? You call that a genius insult? I've seen better digs in my vegetable garden." Heckler said to Hamsterviel.

"What? What do you know about insults, you with your oh so witty teeth and garish bookhan marking?" Hamsterviel asked in a comeback tone. "What's the 'H' stand for? 'Help I've got a towel around my neck?'" Heckler replied. "Quiet, you over-talking over-talker!" Hamsterviel commanded. "Well, I can see we've been working on the accent; I've almost understood a word you said just now." Heckler replied. Hamsterviel just stammered out of anger. He was too furious to even think of a comeback. "Ooh. Nice comeback." Heckler commented.

"You--you!" Hamsterviel began, but he was unable to think of anything and turned away in anger. Heckler replied, in a mocking tone, "I--I--I'm wondering what are you anyway? The name says Hamster, but the tail's all poodle." Hamsterviel's tail suddenly sprang upright as he had just taken this final blow. Hamsterviel quickly turned around and shouted, "Gantu! I do not like this unlikable experiment! Set him free! Set him free!"

"But I finally--" Gantu began when Hamsterviel interrupted, saying, "Do it, you sloppy impersonator of a slob!" Gantu sighed in defeat, said, "Yes sir." and set Heckler loose.

Heckler laughed in victory before heading over to the elevator and saying, "Hate to insult and leave. Actually, I love it." When the elevator doors closed, sending Heckler to the lower floor of the ship, Six-two-five said, "Aw, too bad. I could always use some insult backup around here." Six-two-five had then turned to Gantu and said, "So, Mr. Mayor. What's your next decree to the people of loserville?" Gantu's response was nothing more than a frustrated growl.

Later, at the house. Pleakely was practicing for his comedy act while applying makeup. He was actually applying it professionally as he powdered his face. When the powder cleared after a very dusty pat, Stitch was sitting in front of the mirror Pleakely was practicing in front of, smiling cutely. "Does my nose look like a potato? You can tell me if it does." Lilo said To Pleakely from behind. He turned to her and said instantly, "No, of course not." Then he actually looked and then said, "Well, maybe a little. But who says that's a bad thing?" As Pleakely was saying this, Stitch was flexing his muscles in the mirror.

"Listen, can we talk about this later? It's almost time for me to meet my soon-to-be adoring public." Pleakely said to Lilo, who just looked at him questionably and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this? People could make fun of you; and it's no fun--trust me."

"Oh, come on. If names are the worst thing they throw at me, I'll be fine. Mark's pretty much prepped me for that anyway." The instant Pleakely said the word throw, Lilo remembered that she and Stitch still left the tomatoes on the table.

However, it was too late now, as the charity event had begun the instant Nani stepped up to the microphone and said, "Aloha, everyone. I'd like to thank all of you for coming out and supporting this great charity. And now, the comedy stylings of P. L. eakely!" Pleakely ran around the room and got his props for his act. "That's my cue." he said before heading off to the stage. "Good evening ladies and germs. I just flew in from Maui and boy are my arms tired." There was no response to this joke. Merely a cliché cricket chirping silence. "What are crickets doing here?" Pleakely asked.

Mark, who was serving tables, tried his best not to make fun of Pleakely, knowing how important this comedy thing was to him, and the fact that he was in public as well. "They say that charity begins at home. So what're y'all doing here? Go home!" Pleakely said, trying to get at least one laugh out of someone, but to no avail; people found it more confusing than funny. "Pleakely's dying out there!" Lilo said as she watched him from behind a curtain. The instant she said this, Stitch played dead by falling on his back with his feet sticking up and the air and his tongue hanging out cutely. "What's the deal with coconuts? They're not cocoa, and they're not nuts. And pineapple; neither pie nor apple. This language is crazy." Pleakely said, getting no laughs out of that one either.

Nani slid under the table, fearful that people were going to get upset with her for hiring a lousy comedian. Getting no laughs, Pleakely had begun tapping the microphone, saying, "Hello? This thing working? I know I am." Pleakely had then tugged on his shirt collar nervously and asked, "So, anyone here from out of town?"

"I am." a familiar voice answered from the doorway. It was Heckler.

"Oh no! Heckler's back. He's going to tear Pleakely to shreds. We gotta do something before everyone starts pelting him with tomatoes." Lilo stated. Pleakely lowered the microphone for Heckler to talk into it as the experiment approached the stage. "Where are you from, sir?" Pleakely had asked Heckler. Heckler was just about to answer when Stitch came out of nowhere and tackled Heckler. Mark smacked his forehead as the fight rolled right past him. Not being a victim of Heckler himself, he didn't really understand what the big deal was.

Heckler got out of Stitch's grip, jumped onto one of the tables, and began running down it, throwing food everywhere. After making his way across the table, and dumping some kind of purple pudding on Nani, Heckler jumped off the table and Stitch followed him. "Ugh! Stitch! You're making a huge mess!" Nani scolded. "Actually, Nani, it's that weird orange guy that nobody seems to like." Mark corrected, not wanting Stitch to take the blame for something that's not his fault. Before Nani could reply, Stitch lumped on her and began licking the pudding off of her head.

Heckler had then jumped on and off of Stitch's head, causing him to spit the pudding back on Nani. Stitch resumed his chasing Heckler and Nani just sighed in defeat. "Pay no attention to the disturbance in the audience folks." Pleakely tried to convince the audience. But it was easier said than done as Heckler and Stitch were running on the audience's heads. Pleakely tried to tell another joke, when Heckler finally made it to a tomato and hit Pleakely directly in the face, covering him in a slimy rotten tomato substance.

Heckler laughed at Pleakely's tomato-covered face while Mark was actually showing sympathy for Pleakely for once. "Lilo's right. Who am I kidding? I'm not funny."

"I'll say! You're so not funny that--" Heckler began, but Pleakely interrupted him, saying, "The only thing funny about me is my looks. What's up with this hair?" This had actually gotten a few laughs out of people.

"Or, should I say, lack of hair?" Pleakely continued taking off his wig. "I mean, my scalp's so shiny, that when I go to the beach, the glint makes the seagulls crash." Pleakely continued, getting even more laughs from the audience. "Hey wait, that's my line." Heckler said I realization. "And have you ever seen a bigger eye? The other day I started crying, there was a flash flood." Pleakely continued again, making the entire audience laugh. Jealous, Heckler grabbed the mike from Pleakely and said, "Oh yeah? Well…that little girl's nose looks like--"

"A potato?" Lilo interrupted, walking on the stage and continuing, "You already got me with that. And you're right. It kind of does." This brought even more laughs from the, already, hysterical crowd. Heckler was speechless at Lilo admitting her visual flaw.

Mark noticed Heckler's need to insult people and got an idea. He pulled out his cell phone and called someone. When the person answered, Mark replied, "Hey. Yeah, I was wondering if you could pick up a dunk-tank while you're out. It's for a new guest at the house. I think you know him, actually." Meanwhile, people in the audience were joining Lilo, admitting their own visual flaws as well. "My ears are so big, every time I go to the zoo, the elephants follow me home." one man said. Then Nani stood up and joked, "Well, my rear's so big, I once hip-checked a guy all the way to Oahu." People laughed at this too.

"I--You…I got nothin'." Heckler said before falling to his knees and sobbing in defeat. Ignoring this, Pleakely said, "Good night everybody, try the veil and don't forget to tip our two-job waiter. He not only served you, but he cooked those delicious meals as well." Everybody cheered for Pleakely and Mark as Pleakely got off stage and Mark approached Heckler with compassion, patting him on the back softly upon reaching him.

"Pleakely, you did it! That was so funny, you out-heckled Heckler." Lilo congratulated. "We all did. I almost forgot the first rule of stand-up comedy: Sticks and stone may break your bones, but names will never hurt you unless they're carved into stones and thrown at you." Pleakely replied. "That's a pretty good rule for life too." Lilo said before turning to her sister and asking, "Was that what you were trying to tell me, Nani?"

"Something like that." Nani answered with a victorious grin.

"Being mean isn't funny. It only gets people mad at you. I guess Heckler will have to learn that." Lilo said before she finally noticed Heckler sobbing in his arms, despite Mark's attempts to cheer him up. Lilo joined him in attempting to make Heckler feel better when the experiment suddenly said, "I'm all alone in the world."

"You're not alone in the world, all we have to do now is find the one true place you belong; somewhere where people expect to get heckled." Lilo said to Heckler as she attempted to cheer him up with Mark.

"Yeah. But this time, Lilo. I already found his one true place. Look over there." Mark said as he pointed to the doorway just as Jumba arrived with a dunk-tank. "Well, this works out nicely. Mark, you're a genius." Lilo thought aloud. A little while later, Heckler was sitting in the dunk-tank when someone missed the target. "You throw like a little girl!" Heckler taunted the person throwing the object. "I AM a little girl." Myrtle said to Heckler before continuing, "And I'm only here because Lilo told me how to get back at you, freak!" Myrtle had then thrown another one and hit the bulls-eye, sending Heckler into the pool of water under him. Heckler didn't mind; as long as he was able to do what he does best.

There was a long line for the dunk-tank, which made everyone happy; Nani got a good amount of cash for her charity event, Heckler insulted everyone, and the people had a good time. "At least I finally got Myrtle to come to the charity dinner." Lilo said proudly before taking off her carnival hat in unison with Stitch and Mark and saying to Nani, "Sorry I made fun of your hippo-hips."

"No problem. I love my hips, potato-nose." Nani replied happily to Lilo.

"Come on! The target's right there! What're you blind?" Heckler taunted another person. Mark, who was leaning against the dunk-tank laughed at Heckler's insult. The person hit the target dead-on this time, sending Heckler into the pool once again. When Heckler swam back to the surface, he looked at Mark and said, "Oh hey, kid. I don't usually say this a lot but uh…you know…thanks." Heckler said to Mark, who smiled at the experiment and replied, "No problem. I know what it's like to be alone. And, ya know, my one true place is with this family."

"No kiddin'? Well, I know I said that they were a bunch of losers before, but they're alright once ya get to know 'em I guess." Heckler replied. Mark smiled again. He was rather surprised that Heckler had a soft side, after hearing him insulting people left and right. But, he supposed that everybody had a nice side. And it would only be a matter of time before he found his.


	10. Chapter 10: Switching Sides

-1It had been two years since the now 19-year-old man named Mark Nissan had joined his new Ohana in hunting alien Experiments. Now this man was keeping his physical talent at his best by trying out a new obstacle course that Jumba had designed for him. "Evil genius optical course. Has everything that you been asking for; hoops, platforms, razor sharp bladed swinging pendulums, and the flamethrowers." Jumba displayed. "It almost sounds too easy." Mark replied with a confident smirk.

"Might be so, for you anyway." Jumba replied before chuckling and turning the obstacle course on. The instant Jumba had pressed the button, the flamethrowers began working in a rhythmic function and the pendulums swung back and forth at regular speed. "So…shall we make a bet? I say…about ten seconds." Mark said to Jumba, who just laughed and replied, "Jumba thinks it will take Mark Car-person longer."

"So, we have a bet then?" Mark asked Jumba, who answered, "Indeed, yes. We have bet." Mark looked at the obstacle course before him; if his physical skill had lowered at all, he wouldn't make it through without at least one scratch or burn. "Alright then…here I go!" Mark said aloud just before dashing into the deadly path that the course provided. Mark dove through the first hoop, landed on his hands, and sprang through the second one and landed on his feet before immediately dashing again.

Mark zigzagged quickly through the swinging pendulums before coming up on another hoop, this time on a platform. Mark hopped on top of the platform and dove through the hoop, stopping at a double-swinging pendulum, a set of two pendulums that are at a very short distance away from each other and swing opposite ways at the same time. Taking this into note, Mark still dashed forward the instant he landed. Once he reached it, he spun around in the same direction the pendulum was swinging; it had come very close but just missed him.

Once he was re-aligned, Mark dashed through the obstacle course again. He only ran a few feet before noticing the flamethrowers and then suddenly went into a sliding position to speed up his pace. The Flamethrowers acted in a rhythmic form, activating just as he was passing them, causing them to get a little too close for comfort, but not close enough to do real damage. Mark fell off the platform, just barely missing the flamethrower at the end. Mark hand then landed on the ground and then flipped over the finish line. "How long was that?" Mark asked Jumba, who checked his stopwatch; it read ten seconds exactly.

"Eh…Jumba has eleven seconds." Jumba answered, tugging on his shirt collar nervously. Mark just raised an eyebrow at him before showing him the stopwatch that Jumba had installed at the end of the course, which also read ten seconds exactly and saying, "Oh really? That's not what this one says." Jumba smacked his forehead in frustration of his forgetfulness. "Now, how could Jumba forget about stopwatch at end of the course of obstacles?" Jumba asked himself. Suddenly, Mark spotted Lilo arriving at the house with a jar of slugs.

Inside the house, Pleakely was watching TV when he saw Lilo dumping the slugs onto the coffee table. Upon seeing them, he screamed and said, "Lilo! I thought I told you not to bring bugs in the house!"

"They're not bugs. They're slugs; that's a snail without a home. Their only hope for survival is to join the circus." Lilo explained. Pleakely just gave her a scolding glare for a few seconds before being distracted by the television once more.

Lilo looked at the TV and asked, "What are you watching?"

"America's gushiest home love stories." Pleakely answered, not turning his eyes away from the screen. "Love-crazed earthlings send in home videos of their absurd courtship rituals. It's absolutely fascinating." Pleakely continued. "Blech. Love icky." Stitch muttered to the side. "Aw, come on, Stitch. You gotta believe in love." Lilo wisely said to the little blue alien.

"Lilo's right. Just you wait. Someday you'll find your own little monster who shares your likes and dislikes, and finds all of your little quirks just oh-so adorable." Pleakely was saying to Stitch as the little blue alien was shoving his tongue up his nose. He pulled it out and said as he threw his hand at Pleakely in non-belief, "Ah catsaka."

Mark entered the room and saw what Pleakely was watching. Mark rolled his eyes at the television program and said, "Love is so over-rated."

"And now we know where he gets it." Pleakely thought aloud dully, referring the 'he' to Stitch. Lilo turned to Mark and asked, "You don't believe in love either, Mark?" Mark just looked at her and replied, "Are you kidding? You know how many women I've had coming up to me and saying they love me all the time? Please, love is used too much to actually mean anything anymore."

"He's never been in love before." Pleakely whispered to Lilo. "I heard that, you little--!" Mark said to Pleakely in an offended tone. Pleakely, afraid Mark was going to attack, immediately sprang off the couch and ran out of the room screaming. Mark didn't follow him. Pleakely was right, Mark had never really been in love before; and Mark figured that he never would feel true love. Thinking fast, Lilo suddenly offered to Mark and Stitch, "Come on, guys. We gotta go get more stuff for our slug circus." As Lilo headed out the door, Mark just stared after her and asked, "We have a slug circus?"

A little while later, Mark, Lilo, and Stitch were peering through a window of a small shop. "We need something to make a shady circus top; the sun makes the slugs cranky." Lilo said to Stitch. Mark had no idea where she had gotten that idea, and was just about to say something when a sudden shaking of the ground, followed by people screaming in a panic silenced him.

"And speaking of cranky, there's Mr. Cranky-head himself." Lilo thought aloud, clearly talking about Gantu, as the whale/shark-like alien stomped through town, saying, "There's no use hiding, when it comes to hunting abominations Gantu never loses."

"Except for when you do lose, which happens to be most of the time." a relaxed six-two-five said to Gantu as the experiment rested in a lawn chair, drinking lemonade.

"Cousin, Hagata?" Stitch asked Lilo, who answered, "Yup, there's got to be an experiment around here somewhere. You two find it, and I'll deal with the big dummy."

"Don't be absurd, Lilo. I know size doesn't matter and Gantu's a loser, but you're too small to take on Gantu by yourself." Mark argued. Lilo, however, ignored him and took off in her direction. "There's no stopping that girl." Mark muttered before turning to Stitch and suggesting to split up in search of the experiment. "Ih." Stitch said in agreement and went in the opposite direction as Mark.

Lilo had turned around the corner of a building and bumped into someone. When she sat up and got a good look at the person in her way, she found that it was not a person, but a bright, pink experiment that had a similar body-shape to Stitch, with two long antennae growing out of her head and bending down her back like long hair. The pink experiment rubbed its head for a bit, noticed Lilo, jumped up, growled at her for a second, and then took off. "Hey! You're supposed to say excuse me!" Lilo shouted after the pink experiment.

Stitch and Mark skidded to a halt in two different locations and looked to where Lilo had complained and they both spotted the experiment. Suddenly, someone bumped into Mark, knocking him in the hard street he was standing on. Mark felt a heavy weight on his body and then spotted the tour bus driving right over him and whoever was on top of him. Meanwhile, Stitch was near a tricycle and used it to his advantage, chasing the experiment.

Lilo spotted Gantu heading after the pink experiment as well, ran over to a stand on coconuts and pushed it over, covering one side of the street with the hard round fruits. Gantu accidentally stepped on a few and fell on the passing tour bus that had just passed over Mark and his savior. Lilo waved after him, saying, "Have a nice trip." When the bus reached a corner, Gantu rolled off of it, chuckled, and said intelligently, "Exactly according to plan."

Stitch followed the experiment to an alley. "You alright?" A woman's voice asked Mark, who answered, "About as alright as anyone can be after falling on dried tar and narrowly missing death by a tour bus." Stitch spotted the experiment just as the woman got off of Mark. Stitch chased after the experiment around a corner and said, "Goocha!" The pink experiment turned around with her hand on the back of her head, love in her eyes, and replied affectionately, "Goocha." At this same time, Mark turned around to see his rescuer. She had beautifully long red hair, and blue-framed glasses. At that instant, even about half a mile away from each other, Mark and Stitch had fell in love at the exact same time.

Mark got up, dusted himself off and said, "I'm sorry; I'm really not used to anyone saving my life. I suppose you already know who I am, but what's your name?"

"Sarah. Sarah Edmunds." The woman replied. Mark smiled lovingly and asked, "Well, Sarah. I don't do this a whole lot, and I really mean that too. But um…you mind if I take you out tonight?"

"Yeah, sure! I'd love to. If what I've been hearing about you is true, then you're just my type.

"I'm staying at my cousin Myrtle's while I stay here." she replied before giving him a slight kiss on the cheek. He immediately succumbed to this sign of love and blushed. She chuckled cutely and continued, "See you in a few hours, then?"

"Yeah…few hours…Myrtle's house…got it." Mark answered in a daydreaming tone.

Meanwhile, Stitch did his usual greeting with the outstretched hand and saying, "H-h-hi." When Lilo walked up behind him and said, "Stitch! What's the matter? She's a bad one. Grab her before she eats us!" Stitch turned to Lilo, and explained, "Naga. She bookley da bujee boo." At that moment, the pink experiment licked Stitch in affection. Stitch reacted by lowering his ears, blushing slightly, and purring.

"She's no bujee boo, she's one of Jumba's evil experiments." Lilo reminded Stitch, but another affectionate lick to the forehead convinced him otherwise. Stitch moved in a protective stance in front of Angel and repeated in a harsher tone, "Naga. She bookley da bujee boo." Lilo glared at the pink experiment, the little angel, with little to no trust.

A few hours later, Mark and Sarah were heading over to a restaurant, talking along the way, when a car drove over a puddle of water and drenched Mark in the filthy substance. His hair sopping wet, fell over his eyes. Sarah couldn't help but laugh; she wasn't really laughing at him, she was just finding everything about him to be adorable. She had hen moved the hair out of the way and kissed his lips adoringly. When she broke away, he was smiling and returned the kiss, picking her up and carrying her the rest of the way to the restaurant.

Meanwhile, Stitch and the pink experiment were resting in a hammock near the house. In the hammock, Stitch began sticking his tongue up his nose again in front of his love. She looked shocked for a bit, seeing him do that. Noticing this, he immediately pulled his tongue back in his mouth and said, "Oh! Excuse me." Then the pink experiment smiled for a bit and shoved her tongue up her own nose too. Overjoyed, Stitch embraced the pink experiment lovingly and nudged against her chest. "That is beautiful!" Pleakely's voice erupted out of nowhere. Stitch opened his eyes to see the one-eyed noodle-like alien recording the moment with a video camera.

"Now move in for the kiss. Feel it, feel it. Don't look at the camera. Keep emoting." Pleakely instructed them as if he were a director. Ironically, he was wearing a green beret, a white button-up shirt with rolled up sleeves, tan pants, and had a miniature telescope on a string around his neck; the same attire of many famous directors. Stitch, it appeared, did not like Pleakely recording his private love moments with his new girlfriend. Lilo walked up behind Pleakely and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm making my own video to send to America's Gushiest Home Love Stories." Pleakely answered.

Pleakely had then did his usual thing of displaying simple items and giving complicated names for them; except for the mini-scope. He just identified it as a simple attractive accessory. Pleakely returned to recording when Stitch, feeling like his privacy was being invaded, smacked the camera to the ground, crushing it. As Pleakely rushed over to pick up the remains, Lilo noticed something and said, "That's an antique camera. And it doesn't even have any film in it."

"I knew that. I was just uh…practicing." Pleakely replied nervously.

"I bet Jumba has a video camera I can use for the real shooting." Pleakely continued. "Let's find out." Lilo suggested as she led Pleakely to guide the way back to the house. "I wanted to ask him about his little 'angel'." Lilo continued, indicating the pink experiment. A while later, Mark was at the restaurant with Sarah. "So, what brings you to Kauai, Sarah?" Mark asked Sarah, who answered, "Just visiting the family.

'They all consider me the oddball just because I don't care if anyone's rich or poor, weird or normal. In fact, I'm more interested in anything that isn't normal; at least it's more fun that way. However, this gives me a less-than-respected reputation among my family."

"Yeah. I know what that's like." Mark replied. Being the oddball, people usually only respected him for what he could do, not for who he, himself, was. Then Lilo, Stitch, and his new Ohana entered his life. And now, Sarah, his perfect match for love.

"Excuse me, sir, madam, what would you like?" The waiter, who had just arrived, asked Mark and Sarah in a French accent. "The Buffet looks like it's got some good stuff." Sarah thought aloud. "I'll have the buffet as well." Mark answered the waiter. "Very well, enjoy your snacking. Adieu." The French waiter replied before walking away. "So, what'll you have?" Mark asked Sarah, holding his fork as if he were about to throw it at something. "Um…How about that cheesecake?" She suggested. "Coming right up." Mark said before throwing the fork at a plate, which flipped in the air, landed on the spatula that was underneath the cheesecake, causing a slice to fly in the air and land perfectly in the plate.

The fork continued to fly through the air, ricocheted off a wall and struck the plate again, sending it flying toward Mark and Sarah's table. Mark caught the plate and the fork and handed the plate to Sarah while he got a cleaner fork and then offered that to her as well. Sarah chuckled at his showing off and accepted the treat gratefully.

Meanwhile, at the house, Jumba was handing Pleakely a video camera. "Here. Jumba's evil genius camera is fully digital, bazillion mega-pixel, super zoom, booya image snagafier, with built-in calorie counter." Jumba displayed. Pleakely held the camera up happily and exclaimed, "I can't wait to start shooting!" While this was going on, Lilo was scanning Jumba's computer, searching for Angel. "So, Stitch has found female experiment, you say?" Jumba asked. Lilo found her and answered, "Yup. It's this one. Stitch likes her, but I think she's evil." Jumba suddenly gasped in fear and said, "Oh no! Experiment Six-two-four! She's designed--" Jumba was interrupted by a high pitched voice calling his name. Jumba looked at the doorway and saw Angel rushing up to him. And before he could say anything else, Angel whispered a song in his ear.

Jumba then chuckled, began tickling Angel's chin, and said in a more gruff voice, "Oh Six-two-four what little dickens you are." Lilo just stared at them and then finally asked, "Jumba…what were you going to say?"

"Huh? Say? About what?" Jumba asked in a distracted tone. Slightly appaled by Jumba's absent mindedness, Lilo reminded, "About her. You said, 'Oh no!'" Jumba, thinking quickly, replied, "Oh no…problem. Six-two-four is harmless early experiment, designed to uh…" Jumba, creating a false explanation for Angel's ability, quickly closed the supercomputer laptop and continued, "to pop popcorn for Jumba's movie night."

"Ih." Angel agreed.

"But now, I am thinking; she's perfect bujee boo material for six-two-six." Jumba said, setting Angel down. "Da bujee boo!" Stitch exclaimed as he rushed toward Angel. Lilo, however, still didn't trust Angel and stopped Stitch from getting any closer by getting in between them and saying, "Come on, Stitch. I really need your help with the slug circus." And with that, Lilo dragged Stitch away from his love. Once Lilo dragged Stitch out of the room, Jumba said to Angel, "So…you want to know locations of experiments turned good? Information is right here." Jumba had then opened the laptop and let Angel search fro the experiments. As she did this, Jumba muttered to himself, "Experiments turned to Evil again. Me turned to evil again. That's good! I mean, bad." Jumba then chuckled evilly to himself.

Meanwhile, Mark and Sarah were getting along just fine. "So, what do you do if you've stopped doing all of this volunteer work?" Sarah asked Mark, who answered, "Helping my family, mostly." Curious, Sarah asked, "Helping them with what?" Mark nervously replied, "You probably wouldn't believe me. Heck, I didn't believe it until I actually started." Sarah gave him a little nudge and said, "Oh, come on. You can tell me." Mark scratched he back of his head and finally answered, "Alright. But just in case you don't believe me, I'm going to be showing you some proof afterwards."

"Fine by me." Sarah replied with a smile. Mark leaned over to her ear and whispered something. When he moved away, she had a shocked look on her face. She turned to him and then said sarcastically, "Yeah right! So, you hunt down aliens and try to help them blend in. Yeah, right." Mark sighed and replied, "Told ya you wouldn't believe it. But, I can show you. How about we start where I started; with good old Richter." Mark had then taken Sarah with him to the Rental Hut that Nani worked at and introduced her to Richter.

"What is that?" Sarah asked immediately upon seeing Richter. "This is Richter. He's the very first experiment I helped Lilo and Stitch catch." Sarah just looked at him in disbelief. Mark ignored this and continued, "He's replacing the shake machine that Stitch broke. You know all those earthquakes that happened two years ago?" Sarah looked at him, putting Richter's name the earthquake events together. "…No way." Mark just nodded. "No way!" This time, Richter nodded, smiling, and said, "Ih." Shocked, Sarah backed up a bit and asked, "It can talk?"

"Yes, HE can. It's some kind of alien language, but from the way he and Stitch have been using that word, I'm guessing it means something like, yes, or indeed." Sarah finally got that look of excitement and adoration in her eyes. Mark knew, right then and there that she believed him.

"Well, I guess I should introduce you to the others." Mark said to her before walking off. "Others? You mean there're more of them?" Sarah asked, following him. Mark had then taken Sarah with him to the many places where the experiments were and introduced them all to her. "So…you find these guys wherever you go, turn them from evil to good, and then find the one place they belong?" Sarah asked Mark, who answered, "Yeah, that's the gist of it."

"Cool. It's like your participating in a service to an entirely new species." Sarah commented.

"That's because I am." Mark replied with a chuckle. Then he thought about it and said, "There's probably something I should show you…or rather, someone."

"Who? Another experiment?" Sarah asked. "No, he's no experiment, but he is an alien. His name's Gantu, or something along those lines. Just…follow me, you'll find out about him sooner or later." Mark replied before walking away. Sarah just looked at him confused and asked, "I…will

"Well, yeah. Once you learn that these experiments exist, you're a part of the family now. And it's not like you're not going to have some competition. These things are everywhere, and it's our job to keep them hidden in a safe environment where they can cope." Mark said before turning back to Sarah and asking, "So, what do ya say?" Sarah gave it some thought and then said, "I'm sorry, but no. I can't really imagine living a life like that, Mark. But, don't worry, your little aliens will be kept secret."

Mark smiled in an understanding expression and replied, "Well, thanks for keeping this to yourself. And if you ever change your mind, you know where I live; in a house on a hill with a glass dome for a roof in Kauai. Trust me, there's not a whole lot of places like that around here." Sarah chuckled at that last comment and headed back to her cousin Myrtle's house. Mark realized how late it was getting and began to head home himself.

Meanwhile, Lilo and Stitch were trying to get the slugs to perform some circus acts, but all the slugs were doing was laying in one spot, hardly moving at all. "Alright guys, we're almost ready for rehearsal, you might want to limber up." Lilo said to the slugs, getting no response at all. Stitch was just watching her fail to perk up the slugs from the couch, resting his head on his fist boredly. Stitch heard the door open and Angel arrived Stitch, curious, turned to see as she entered the room. Angel yawned before giving Stitch a flirtatious look and saying, "Ooh gaba fobo." Stitch, getting the message, yawned, said he was feeling sleepy and then hopped off the couch to join Angel. Lilo, however, stopped him in his tracks by grabbing his tail. Angel gave Lilo a glare and growled at her slightly.

That night, Mark still hadn't made it back yet, as Lilo made Angel a bed in the washroom. "Stitch and I sleep upstairs, YOU sleep here; right next to the dryer." Lilo informed Angel before walking away and muttering under her breath, "And as far away from me as possible." Angel looked at Lilo as she walked away and chuckled evilly. A few minutes later, Lilo, Stitch and Angel were sleeping peacefully when Angel woke up and headed out the door. Just as she did this, Mark had finally arrived, just in time to see Angel leaving the house. "The pink experiment from this morning?" Mark thought aloud before following her all the way to Gantu's ship. Mark never got on the ship, but he went under it and closed his eyes in focus. After a while, he listened intensely, now that he was using Shush's eavesdropping ability, he shouldn't have a problem listening in.

Angel rode up the elevator and entered the pilot room, where Six-two-five and Gantu were waiting for her. "Hello hot-cakes. I thought you went through the whole 'captured by the little girl and turned to good' route." Six-two-five said to Angel once she entered. "Ha! Shows how much you know. She's right on schedule." Gantu informed Six-two-five, who replied, "On schedule? You mean you actually planned all of this? The whole chase, losing the experiment, you slipping on the coconuts and falling on your keister, all of it?"

"The keister part was, uh, improvised." Gantu admitted before continuing victoriously, "All is going according to plan; the trog's household has been infiltrated and Jumba's database compromised. Contact with the other repurposed experiments begins tomorrow." Mark had heard enough. He stopped using Shush's hearing and dashed back to the house. "So…Gantu has a plan, does he? Maybe it's about time I do what I do best, then." Mark thought aloud as he tried to get to the house before Angel did; he knew she would return, she had to in order for Gantu's plan to work. Little did Angel know, she was also giving Mark the opportunity for something he'd been planning for months to fall into place.

The next morning, Stitch was awake before Angel and had finally found the chance to get near her. Once she woke up, Stitch greeted her with an admiring, "Good morning, Angel." Stitch had then whipped out a handful of flowers that were still in a clay pot and handed them to Angel as he asked, "Ah cadder baba?" Angel smiled and sighed admiringly at Stitch, before purring, getting up, and singing the song she had whispered in Jumba's ear aloud and in a very beautiful singing voice, "Choonuto degatah no mootah, naga tonala eetruma tradrutah." Stitch looked shocked for a moment, then smiled and complimented, "Eegala coo. Oh, nice pipes." Angel leaned back with her mouth open in shock that her song didn't work. Stitch, however, didn't care about her appalled look as he handed her the flowers again. She tilted her head and frowned a bit, then she smiled and decided to go with it.

As Angel was singing, Mark was crossing the room she and Stitch were in and stopped the instant he heard her singing. Mark had heard the whole thing. Meanwhile, Lilo was trying to get the slugs to perform trapeze tricks, but to no success. Lilo sighed in defeat and turned to see Angel rush to the door, Stitch following her. "Angel?" Stitch asked, obviously confused. Angel and Stitch had just looked at each other for a minute before Angel had ran through the door leading out of the house, closing it behind her.

"Angel!" Stitch called out before dropping his flowers and chasing her. Pleakely arrived and said as he looked at the doorway, "Our first conflict. She slams the door and leaves without a word. He follows, his faith unbroken…I gotta get this stuff!" Pleakely had then grabbed his recording equipment and followed. "I'll uh…make sure Stitch doesn't harm Pleakely…too much." Mark said to Lilo before following all three of them out the door. At that Moment, Lilo knew something was wrong; since when did Mark care if Pleakely got hurt or something while he was out? However, Lilo felt that the slug circus was a more important matter than a little weirdness in Mark's behavior.

Instead of following Stitch, Angel, and Pleakely, however, Mark took a different path. Meanwhile, Angel was still playing hard-to-get with Stitch, and Stitch relentlessly followed. Angel ran up to the snow cone stand that Slushy was working at and sang her song to him. Right after hearing the first few lyrics, Slushy suddenly began looking angry and laughing evilly. While this was going on, Stitch picked up a watermelon, extended his extra arms, and scratched "626 + 624" and circled it with a heart. "A spurned suitor, desperate for attention. Love it!" Pleakely commented in the background, still recording everything.

At that moment, Stitch spotted Angel with Slushy, who began freezing everything, including Stitch's carved watermelon and Stitch himself. The carved watermelon shattered, completely frozen. "C-coffee break. T-take five." A cold, shivering Pleakely said in the background. A while later, after thawing out, Stitch chased angel to the beach and made a sand statue of her while she was relaxing in a lawn chair. "Tada!" Stitch said cutely once he was finished. However, Angel had left the lawn chair and went somewhere else while he had his back turned.

"Angel?" Stitch called out, looking around. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, knocking the sand statue over and burying Stitch. Once he made his way out, Stitch looked around and spotted Angel with Richter who was patting the ground with his tail, causing the ground to shake. Stitch lowered his ears in confusion while Pleakely said in the background, "In a world of pathos and pain, one little monster refused to give up on love."

A while later, Stitch followed Angel to a workout section of the beach, where he was introduced by a few weightlifters being thrown out of the area. "Huh? Kixx!" Stitch said in realization as he saw the four-armed bully experiment flexing in front of Angel. Stitch growled in jealousy and pulled on his arm as if he was rolling up a sleeve. Stitch walked up to Kixx and tapped him on the shoulder. When Kixx turned around, Stitch extended his extra arms, said, "Meega nala queesta!" and threw Kixx out of the workout area. Pleakely, who was now being crushed by Kixx's defeated body, lifted one of the experiments arm and said weakly, "Ok…this scene's playing a little heavy." before losing his grip and falling under the weight of the arm.

Stitch dusted his hands in victory and turned to see Angel, but she had left again. Stitch just pulled his ears in frustration and tried to follow her again. The chase lasted the whole day, but he eventually caught up to her as she was running toward Mt. Waialeale. Pleakely was following him the whole way. When Stitch stopped to catch his breath, Pleakely said behind him, "Still, our hero pursues her. Though she treats him like a loser, a flop, a buffoon, a pathetic--" Stitch, however, had enough of Pleakely and roared at him. Pleakely backed off in surprise and said, "Ok, ok, no need to get huffy." And with that, Pleakely finally left them alone. Stitch looked onward in the direction Angel ran in an admiring expression and then resumed his chase to get to her.

Back at the house, Lilo was moping about how her slug circus was failing miserably. "This just isn't as much fun without Stitch." Lilo groaned sadly as she headed to the pantry. She opened it and took a can of food, saying, "David says canned ravioli is the best cure for rejection." Lilo had then headed into the living room, eating the ravioli straight from the can. Pleakely was sitting in front of the TV with his camera hooked up to it as he was watching the clips of Stitch love life he had recorded.

"Pleakely tuned to Lilo and said, "Lilo. You're just in time to watch footage of my documentary masterpiece." Lilo, still frowning, wiped off some ravioli sauce that was on her mouth and began watching Pleakely's footage with him. The scene where Angel was running up the mountain path and Stitch following her came up as Pleakely said, "You know, of course, that single orbiting satellite symbolizes obsessive love." Lilo, however, noticed something that Angel was wearing and commanded, "Wait! Go back!"

"I know, I can't get enough of my genius either. Francis Ford Pleakely." Pleakely replied as he rewound the tape to the beginning of the scene. "No. What's that on her collar?" Pleakely had then noticed it too, paused the recording and zoomed in on the I.D. tag to a readable distance. How he was doing this without Mark's or Jumba's help was a mystery, as Jumba was in his room and Mark still hadn't returned. Once the image was close enough, Lilo read aloud, "If found please call 555-019-829-3434-5336-5882."

Lilo had then got an idea and dialed the number on her phone. It actually rang and a familiar voice answered on the other line, "Hello? Who is calling me with a call?" It was Hamsterviel. Lilo quickly pulled the phone away from her ear and said, "Oh no!" Lilo had then hung up just as Hamsterviel was saying, "Stop with all the not answering me!" Lilo rushed out of room and headed to Jumba's room as she shouted, "Jumba! Angel's not harmless at all; she's--" However, when she opened the door, Jumba was sitting at the desk messing with a chemistry set. "Evil, I know. And she has returned me to evil as well. And boy, am I having fun!" Jumba continued for her before laughing maniacally.

"I knew that Angel was no angel!" Lilo said as she put her hands on her hips. Meanwhile, Stitch, who had no idea what fate awaited him, continued to chase Angel to the top of the mountain. Stitch followed Angel to the top and had lost her again. He lowered his ears in sadness when he suddenly heard her singing the song. He followed her voice to the edge of the summit and found a tunnel, slid down it, and entered a secret layer type environment. Stitch looked around and saw most of the experiments captured in, what appeared to be, display cases.

Stitch had then turned to Six-two-five, one of the experiments not in a display case. "Ooh, cousin. Bad move coming here." Six-two-five said in a warning tone. "Indeed." A familiar voice called from behind Stitch. Stitch turned around and saw Angel standing next to Mark, who was now wearing a completely different out fit; one that would suit a spy or thief more than the casual 19 year-old he usually was. However, Stitch focused on Angel as he ran up to her. She pressed a button, closing the door leading out of the lair tightly, but Stitch obviously didn't care as he continued to run up to her.

Gantu suddenly came out of nowhere, blaster in hand, and said to Stitch, "You weren't invited to this party, Six-two-six. But now that you're here, I'm sure our host will…take care of you." Right after he said this, a giant screen came down from the ceiling, and Hamsterviel appeared on it. "Hello you formerly goody do-gooder experiments you…and Mr. Nissan. I say formerly because thanks to the work of experiment six-two-four, which Gantu miraculously captured last Tuesday, you are all now evil and will soon help me wreak havoc on this stinking galactic empire!" Hamsterviel had then laughed maniacally, and the other experiments joined, while Mark continued to lean against the wall calmly and chuckled evilly after the others were done. Stitch just lowered his ears in sadness and defeat. He looked at Mark in shock. He never would have guess that he, out of everyone else here, would have turned evil.

Meanwhile, Lilo was having her own problems back at the house with Jumba being evil and all. "Quick, Jumba, how does experiment Six-two-four work?" She asked him. "Simple, is programmed with special music neuro-linguistic behavioral modification trigger." Jumba said in his usual explanation tone. "English please." Lilo requested, not understanding a word he had just said.

"She sings her little song, poof, you're evil. Is tricky genius, no?" Jumba replied. "Is there an antidote to the turning evil part?" Lilo asked Jumba, who quickly answered, "Of course. But also, I'm not telling, because I'm back to evil." Lilo gave Jumba a glare for a second and then noticed the laptop sitting on the chair. "Evil and…slow." She said with a certain slyness in her voice as she rushed o the laptop. Jumba tried to get ahead of her as he shout, "Ooh! Mine, mine, mine!" But Lilo was just a bit faster than him and grabbed the laptop just as he reached it, causing him to trip over the chair and out of the room.

Lilo closed the door, locked it, and continued, "And clumsy." Lilo had then began searching the database for Angel as Jumba, who had gotten back up, began pounding on the door and demanding to be let back in. Lilo had then found the information she was looking for and read, "To reverse evil effects, simply chat evil song…backwards?"

"Open door! Or I am obliterating you and entire ridiculous Ohana!" Jumba threatened as he tried to open the door relentlessly on his own.

Lilo found the audio file of Angel's song backwards and played it back as she held the laptop to the door. After the song was done, she closed the laptop and then everything was quiet. Slowly, she unlocked and opened the door. Jumba was standing with his usual smile on his face and said, "Ah, little girl. Hello. Is nice muumuu you're wearing this evening." Lilo placed the laptop back on the chair and said, "Come on, we've got to find Stitch."

A while later, Lilo, Jumba, and Pleakely were driving up the path where Pleakely had last seen Stitch in their dune buggy. Pleakely held the camera up above them for a good angle and said, "This is so exciting! Careening towards our thrilling climax!" Lilo turned to Jumba and asked in a worried tone, "Is Stitch going to be turned to evil too?"

"No. Six-two-five and Six-two-six built AFTER Six-two-four, her spell's not working on them, they're immune to her sireny song." Jumba answered as he continued to drive recklessly up the bumpy road.

Meanwhile, on the ship, Six-two-five was having a chat with Stitch, "Sad story. Ain't it cuz? Her spell doesn't work on us but we fell for her just the same."

"Ih." Stitch replied. Six-two-five looked down with the sad, disappointed look on his face and continued, "I guess she's just incapable of tender feelings for the likes of us." Stitch looked on at Angel and replied, "Yeah…" However, as the launch sequence began its countdown for one minute, Angel began thinking, and she suddenly looked as if she was wondering if what she did was right for her.

Noticing this, Mark walked up to her and whispered something in her ear. When he pulled away, she looked appalled at him at first, it looked like she was wondering whether or not she should tell someone else what he had just told her. In the end, however, she decided not to as she simply turned away from him and crossed her arms. With that, Mark got up and walked away. Meanwhile, Lilo, Jumba, and Pleakely had arrived when Jumba suddenly stopped. He listened for a moment before saying, "I'm knowing that noise; is noise of spaceship rockets charging up for takeoff." The instant he finished saying this, the ground directly in front of them broke down, forming a giant circle. Out of that circle, rose the spaceship that Stitch was captured in.

"Wow! Special effects! Real-live movie magic!" Pleakely exclaimed excitedly as he ducked down to avoid one of the spaceship's fins that were coming out of its sides. The ship stopped with the window facing toward the Ohana. Stitch was looking out of it and called out for Lilo. "Stitch! I was right! She's evil!" At that moment, a machine rose out of the ground and the computer voice said, "Navigation system activated. Launch in 5...4...3..." The ship had launched a few seconds later, sending Stitch and everyone else on the ship in the sky while Lilo looked up and called out Stitch's name, hoping that it would being him back to her.

Stitch turned to the machine and pounced after it, but a glass barrier and an electric voltage protected it. Stitch landed on the barrier and was electrocuted with a voltage strong enough to throw him back against the wall. Stitch sat back up and rubbed his eyes. Six-two-five looked at him and taunted, "You know…you really should get a professional electrician to do that."

"Reinforced glass and high-voltage protection; Just enough to stop a little pest like you." The now evil Mark Nissan had displayed, showing off the defense system he had made for the navigation controls that Stitch had just tried to destroy. "I've always wanted to see this; Six-two-six being disciplined by his very own cousins." Gantu said excitedly as he pulled out a remote and set the evil experiments loose. Gantu pointed o Stitch and commanded, "Pummel him, evil trogs!"

Stitch looked up just in time to see his cousins gang up on him. Stitch grinned nervously and then tried to make a run for it but four experiments caught him and held him in place. Angel watched nervously from the distance as Stitch was getting prepared to get beaten. Stitch spotted her and said in a sad voice, "Bye-bye, bujee boo."

Angel looked horrified at what she had done, and shocked that Stitch still loved her. Stitch closed his eyes as he prepared himself for a beating from Kixx. Kixx was just about to throw a punch when Angel stopped him, saying, "Naga!" Angel had then sung her song again, but this time backwards. When she finished singing, the experiments let Stitch go. Feeling safer, Stitch hopped up, pointed to Mark and Gantu, and commanded, "Aw kattah! Gantu!"

"Uh-oh. Plot twist." Six-two-five commented in the background. The experiments had then gained up on Gantu, but Mark quickly stood in front of Gantu and pointed one of his wrist cannons at the experiments. "You all know that, unlike Gantu, I'm no pushover. So, back off!" Mark warned the experiments harshly. Surprised, they all backed up a bit, but they still growled at Mark and Gantu. "T-thanks." Gantu said to Mark, who harshly replied, "Zip it, loser! If I'm going to work with you from now on, let's get one thing straight: I still don't like you."

"Noted." Gantu replied fearfully and backed up a bit as well.

Angel, suddenly getting an idea, walked up to the experiments and whispered something in their ears. After hearing what she had said, they all grinned confidently and returned to ganging up on Mark and Gantu. Meanwhile, Stitch was thinking about how to get past Mark's security system, then he remembered what Six-two-five had said and then thought aloud, "Electrician…Sparky!" Sparky looked back and knew what Stitch was calling him for upon seeing the machine. He jumped on top of it and disabled the electricity field. Stitch had then examined the reinforced glass, got another idea and called out, "Richter." Richter too, looked back towards Stitch, and then slammed his tail on the ground, creating a giant crack in the glass.

"No!" Mark shouted before firing a laser at Richter, who dodged it completely and growled at Mark. Stitch pushed the crack open large enough for him to fit through, and then Stitch hopped down and tore the navigation controls apart. Angel clasped her hands in admiration of Stitch and waited as the ship began falling back to Earth. "Well, I guess it's time to abandon ship." Mark said in a disappointed tone before pulling a lever to his right and being pulled out of the ship through a hole that was just created. Jumba and Six-two-five quickly followed. "Hmm…funny; spaceship is not flying in typical spaceship manner." Jumba, who was still on the surface, thought aloud as the spaceship's engines gave out and it slowly fell to Earth.

"What an amazing 3D effect! It's almost lie it's…coming right at us!" Pleakely exclaimed, first in excitement, then in fear before screaming in terror. Jumba, thinking quickly, drove up, grabbed Lilo, spun around, and drove away from the ship as fast as the dune buggy could go. The spaceship crashed with such force that it was still moving, even when half of it was underground. When the spaceship had stopped, it had gotten so close to the vehicle that the back tires were on the nose of the ship while the front tires touched the ground.

Lilo hopped off of the dune buggy and rushed up to a crevice in the ship and called out Stitch's name. Stitch kicked the crevice open, looked around, and then called out to the experiments, "Aka tookie." The experiments followed Stitch, cheering and holding him above them like a champion. After they let him back on the ground, Stitch went up to Lilo and hugged her. When they broke away, Lilo asked, "What happened to Angel? Bet you had to use your super strength to do her in." Stitch just shook his head and replied, "Naga. Angel save Stitch."

Stitch turned around to see Angel peeking through the crevice before making he way out with the others. Lilo looked shocked at first, but then smiled and said, "No kidding?" Angel walked up to Stitch and they held hands. Stitch looked back at Lilo and reminded her, "Got to believe in love." before looking back at Angel in admiration. "And…cut!" Pleakely said as he was recording his final scene. Angel suddenly remembered something and then said, "Bujee boo." Stitch gave her his full attention as she said, "Mark--" However, before she could tell him any more, Gantu arrived, accidentally knocking Pleakely's camera out of his hand and crushing it with his huge feet.

Gantu aimed at Angel and Stitch, but Stitch stepped in front of Angel and growled viciously at Gantu. When Gantu pulled the trigger a net shot out and captured Stitch. Then Mark dashed out from behind him and scooped up Angel in a capsule, closing the lid and continued running toward Gantu's ship. "Mark!?" Lilo questioned in complete and utter shock. Mark, however, ignored her and continued running, followed by Gantu and Six-two-five, who taunted, "Sorry losers." Six-two-five had then laughed and continued, "Angel's coming to live with us. Bad guys win this round." before tripping over a large rock clumsily. He got back up, ran after Mark and Gantu, and continued, "Hey, wait for me, gorgeous!"

Stitch finally burst out of the net, and called out, "Angel!" as he tried to catch up to them, but he knew it was no use as he continued, "Angel…da bujee boo." Pleakely was sulking over his destroyed camera as he said, "What about my gushiest love stories documentary? It's ruined." Jumba tried to cheer Pleakely up by saying, "Not ruined, my friend. Just time to start working on sequel." Lilo walked up to Stitch and said, "Don't worry Stitch, we'll get her back, because you were right; you gotta believe in love."

The next day, the Ohana were silent all morning, as if they were actually missing Mark. "I keep expecting him to just come walking in here and yell at me for the mess I made in his room the other day…boy, what I'd give to actually have that happen right about now." Pleakely thought aloud. Stitch, however, had the worst of it. He still couldn't believe it, he didn't want to. There was no way Mark could actually have turned evil. He sat on the porch and began remembering when they first met in the hospital bed…Mark called Stitch cute and then stroked him kindly…no way would a man like that actually turn evil, no way.

There was suddenly a distant beeping noise. "What's that?" Lilo asked once she had heard it. Jumba listened and answered, "Is instant messaging service from portable supercomputer." They all went up to the laptop, brought it to the living room, and opened it up. Mark appeared on the other end, and they were not happy to see him. "Oh no, you don't, traitor! Am hanging up now!" Jumba scolded as he attempted to close the contact screen. "Wait, wait. Hear me out, first. I don't have a lot of time before I have to report to Gantu." Mark pleaded desperately. They all glared at him, but decided to rust him once more and decided to hear him out.

"Well…I guess I better get started with the main point: Guys I…haven't REALLY been turned to evil." At these words they all rolled their eyes, this pretty much made him look like more of a traitor to them. "Well, hold on now! This means I'm still on your side. I'm just…pretending to work for Gantu now." Everyone but Stitch looked at Mark suspiciously. "What do you mean, pretending?" Lilo asked him. "Ok, This is actually all part of a plan I came up about five months ago: I work undercover for the enemy and actually help you guys in the end by setting all of the experiments that Gantu caught free."

Stitch smiled victoriously, he knew that Mark wasn't really bad. Everyone else, however, were more shocked than happy. "But…Angel's song…you heard it, the whole thing!" Lilo reminded him. "Earplugs, dear Lilo, earplugs." Mark replied simply, convincing Lilo as well. "But…Six-two-six tells me you be shooting at Five-one-three." Jumba informed. "Well, I had to make it look convincing. But I was sure to tell Angel of my plan, and she told the other experiments. So, Richter knew I was going to do that; they all did, actually." Mark explained, convincing Jumba and Pleakely.

"Oh, by the way Stitch, sorry about calling you a pest back there. And the whole high-voltage thing might have been going a bit too far. Can you ever forgive me for that?" Mark said to Stitch, who gave it some thought, and then smiled as he said, "Ok, ok. But, Mark does dishes when he gets back." Mark laughed in relief and said, "Deal." Stitch smiled cutely in pure happiness. "Oh, and before I forget. Just in case I've left a gap, I've called someone in to fill in my place while I'm here." Mark informed. "Oh, really? Who?" Lilo asked Mark. Just after she asked him that, the door opened and everyone looked to see Sarah standing in the doorway. "Hello? Is this the Pelekai house?" It was quite obvious, right then and there, that things weren't going to be the same for a while, if ever.


	11. Chapter 11: The Clones

Episode 12: The Clones

All was quiet within the confines of Gantu's ship as Mark sat in a corner, working on the communication device he had told Six-Two-Five about during Christmas. Gantu watched him from afar with disdain and envy; Hamsterviel had always favored Mark due to his skills, and somehow feared him. No foolish teenager could ever intimidate Hamsterviel like that, Gantu thought to himself.

Suddenly, the alarm went off and a disembodied voice rang throughout the room, "Warning: Experiment Three-four-four activated. Primary Function: Object and Genetic Replication."

Almost immediately as this warning had ended, Mark had apparently finished his communication device as he announced, "Done!" Pulling off his light-protection goggles and strapping the device to his wrist, he continued, "Well, I'm off. See you guys in a bit."

However, Mark didn't take two steps toward the door when Gantu suddenly stood up, put his utility belt on, and announced, "I'm going with you."

Mark stood on the spot for a moment before turning to Gantu and replying sternly, "No, you're not."

"Oh, here we go again," Six-Two-Five groaned.

"You stay out of this!" both Gantu and Mark barked at Six-Two-Five at the same time before turning back on each other. Actually intimidated by both of them, Six-Two-Five kept his mouth shut the rest of their argument.

"Why won't you let me come with you?" Gantu asked in a demanding tone.

"Because you get in the way and you always end up getting yourself injured in the end, or did you forget what happened last time?"

"I've been at this much longer than you! Back when I was an officer of the Galactic Council, I caught the most elusive villains in the galaxy left and right."

"Yet you can't even beat a little girl to the chase?"

"She has help from her own experiment!" Gantu informed; there was a bit of an offensive tone in his voice.

Fed up with the arguing, and knowing that enough time was wasted already, Mark finally said, "Whatever." Mark put his shades on and went for the door as he continued, "Just don't get in the way this time."

Surprised at the outcome, Six-Two-Five spoke up, "Wait, what, that's it? This thing's not going to carry on for another hour, you're just gonna let him win this one?"

Mark stepped in the doorway and stopped before answering, "We've wasted enough time arguing, and I intend on actually catching these experiments, unlike Gantu." With that, Mark left the ship before Gantu could make a reply and Gantu followed him in a somewhat reluctant manner.

"They are so not gonna catch this one," Six-Two-Five thought aloud once Mark and Gantu had left.

Mark flicked the lens of his shades, activating a sort of GPS for experiments within them. "Try and keep up," Mark said to Gantu in a sarcastic voice before suddenly springing off into a sprint toward the Experiment's location.

"Hey, wait up!" Gantu called out as he followed him as best he could, which was surprisingly well as his long legs gave him that advantage.

They eventually came to a stop near a beautiful beach; the locals and tourists seemed to be unaware as Mark suddenly slid into view and removed his shades like he was some sort of action hero while Gantu, attempting the same, tripped over his own feet and crashed into a garbage bin. Mark chuckled mockingly before he saw that Lilo and Stitch were already loading the captured experiment in the dune buggy. "Oh, that's typical. I bring Gantu with me and the opposing team catches the prize," Mark muttered to himself before running after them as they drove away.

Gantu recovered from his fall; he would have felt humiliated if things like this didn't happen before. He chased after Mark – his large legs giving him the advantage of catching up easily. "Come back here with th-" Gantu started, but was interrupted as he received a face-full of flavored snow from a shaved ice stand that Mark had ducked to avoid.

As Gantu took the stand off his head, Stitch began laughing at Gantu's comical appearance of having a head covered in pink ice. "Better put some ice on that," Lilo suggested tauntingly, referring to a bump Gantu may have received on the head, before driving away.

"Hey, what about my cart!?" the man who was serving the shaved ice only moments earlier called out to Lilo as the Dune Buggy kept going. Gantu removed the stand from his head before throwing it to the ground and cursing out his usual word. Mark went after Lilo and Stitch, hoping he could catch up to them. However, the man serving the shaved ice suddenly stopped him. "And where do you think you're going? That's the fifth shaved ice cart of mine this week! **Someone's** going to have to pay for the damages."

Mark didn't complain or argue; with Lilo and Stitch being part of your family things like this were expected. "Gantu, get back to the ship. We've lost this round."

Gantu was appalled by Mark's order. "What? But they're right there, and-"

"I said, get…back…to…the ship. Now, do I need to spell it out to you or are we good?"

Gantu looked rather angry and shocked, but turned around and headed back to his ship nonetheless, muttering under his breath. Mark turned back to the man who stopped him and asked, "Ok, what do I have to do to pay it off?"

"Great shaved ice stand toss, by the way," Lilo complimented Stitch.

Stitch replied with a "Doogaba" and honked the horn twice.

Lilo turned around and peered over her sunglasses at the experiment they just captured - which resembled a raccoon that had ears, yellowish fur, brown rings on his tail, and an extra hand upon his head that was usually curled - and said, "Now we just have to figure out what to do with him." The experiment replied with a cat-like meow.

Six-Two-Five took a bite out of a smaller sandwich while a giant one stood stacked in front of him just as the large metallic door behind. "I don't want any of your lip!" Gantu scolded furiously as he walked in the room.

"I didn't say any--" Six-Two-Five began before Gantu suddenly slapped the sandwich out of his hand.

"I told you to zip it, you sandwich-making freak!" Gantu shouted before he and Six-Two-Five both looked at the mess on the floor; two slices of rye bread with a bite missing lay next to each other while bits of tuna lay in various places on the floor.

"Oh, look what you did to my tuna on rye!" Six-Two-Five scolded as he saw the mess. His perfect lunch ruined because of Gantu's bad mood.

Gantu sighed and apologized. Six-Two-Five gave it a quick thought and replied in an understanding tone, "Hey, hey, hey. You've obviously had a bad day. Where's Mark, by the way?"

Gantu hesitated for a bit but eventually answered, "He's trying to find a way to pay off a debt to someone."

"I see," Six-Two-Five replied before changing the subject back to Gantu's day as he asked, "You want to talk about it? Your day, I mean."

"Well…Alright," Gantu said before he took a seat and continued, "It's that trog – always besting me. I just can't take it anymore! Mark's not helping much either." A thought came to Gantu's mind and he suddenly turned to Six-Two-Five and asked, "You're not offended when I call him a trog, are you? Because, after all, you're a trog."

Six-Two-Five just gave an understanding reply as he said, "Please, don't you worry about me this is about you. Why don't you tell me a little about your childhood?"

Gantu went into a thoughtful pose and replied, "Haven't thought about that in a while. Well, my father was very authoritarian so I didn't have many friends – no friends, actually."

Finding it somewhat interesting, Six-Two-Five replied with a voice disguised in an understanding tone, "Yeah. Go on."

"Hmm. Here is experiment I've not been seeing in long time," Jumba admitted admiringly. Within the Pelekai household, Lilo was sitting next to the experiment while Stitch was standing on the ceiling sucking on a lollipop that Sarah, who was sitting on the couch, had given to him.

"What does it do?" Lilo asked curiously.

As the experiment extended the antenna on its head to Stitch's level, Jumba explained, "Experiment Three-four-four is duplicator – it can make multiple copies of anyone or anything; designed to make infinite number of weapons." A curious Stitch took hold of the antenna and looked into the flower-like shape at the end of it, Jumba warned, "Careful of the antenna, Six-two-six, might duplicate yourself."

"Oh yeah!!" Stitch exclaimed excitedly as he held his lollipop to the antenna. With a flash of light, another lollipop was created and fell into Lilo's hands.

"Well, that's neat," Sarah commented as she saw this and Stitch bringing a large cake into the room, which the experiment had decided to duplicate in to several cakes. Obviously content with enjoying himself, Stitch began engulfing cake after cake in single bites.

"Cool. All the lollipops you can eat," Lilo said before giving her copied lollipop a taste and critiquing, "Good, but there's something…different. Is this low-cal?"

Before Jumba could answer, Sarah spoke up first, "Of course. A copy's not as good as the original."

Jumba gave Sarah a dry look and said, "You are worse than Mark Car-person," before turning back to Lilo and admitting, "But, she is right – copy is never as good or powerful as original."

Stitch, however, didn't seem to care what the cakes tasted like as he scarfed down the last of the cakes and sat down with a pleased sigh. "Better watch out, Stitch, or you'll lose your girlish figure," Lilo warned in her usual sweet voice.

Something about Lilo's sentence caught Sarah off guard and she suddenly blurted out, "But…Stitch isn't a girl…is he?"

Jumba groaned furiously and slapped his forehead before explaining, "Girlish figure means slim body." ("Ohhh," Sarah replied, finally getting it now.) Jumba turned back to Lilo and explained, "And actually no; duplicates have less-than-original of everything including fat and calories."

Everybody focused their attention to the door behind Jumba as it suddenly opened with a slam. "Hold everything!" the whiny voice of Pleakely echoed throughout the room. His outfit of choice this time was similar to that of a drill sergeant. "As official adult guardian of your slumber party tonight, I don't want that thing wreaking havoc. Nani put me in charge while she was gone and I am not letting her down."

"Why would Nani put you in charge? You don't have control over anything and you've failed her expectations several times," Sarah asked, slightly surprised that Nani still trusted Pleakely after all this time.

"Well, she just does. Plus, it's not like you're any better Miss. I-have-a-mental-disorder-so-rare-it-doesn't-have-a-name," Pleakely replied.

"Hey! I may have a mental disorder but you're lacking proper knowledge one hundred percent of the time," Sarah replied.

Pleakely gave Sarah a glare, but decided to ignore her latest statement and continued, "Anyway, I've got everything planned: Pillow fight at six-o'clock, toenail painting at seven-o'clock, aromatherapy facial at eight bells, and gossiping about boys will be sprinkling throughout spontaneous intervals."

"What about 'light as a feather stiff as a board?'" Lilo asked.

"Ooh! I love that!" Sarah exclaimed excitedly.

Ignoring Sarah, Pleakely gave it some thought and answered, "Hmm. Inducing levitation. Shouldn't take longer than a half-hour. I'll pencil you in a six thirty. And I don't want anything to screw it up so put that little monster--" Pleakely stopped as the menacing sound of experiment Three-four-four's tail charging up emitted from behind him. Pleakely screamed, threw his clipboard in the air and ran to Jumba shouting, "Get it off! Get it off! I don't want to be copied! I'm an original."

Sarah began giggling to herself at Pleakely's close encounter of being copied as Jumba calmly scooped up Three-four-four and informed, "Not to be worrying, I will keep it in my ship. We both want to be out of way of chit-chattering girls."

Lilo cheered and announced, "This is going to be the best first slumber party I ever had."

Sarah stopped laughing and looked surprised at Lilo as she asked, "You never had one before? Oh man, you don't know what you're missing."

Stitch pedaled down the sidewalk on the pink-tired bike with Lilo riding in the back. "I think we got enough props for the levitation," Lilo thought aloud. Stitch looked behind him and gave a grunt which, although may have been his agreement, sounded more like a scoff. "Yeah, you're right," Lilo replied, "I got a gazillion."

Up ahead, Myrtle and her posse were getting shaved ice from a nearby stand. "Oh look, there's my friends!" Lilo announced. Stitch took this as his cue to speed up and slide to a stop in front of them. "Aloha, guys!" Lilo greeted once Stitch had stopped.

"Hey, Lilo," the man serving the shaved ice greeted in a friendly tone. Lilo and Stitch both looked to him and recognized him at once.

"Mark!?" They asked at the same time.

"Yeah, it's me. I have to do this all day in order to pay for the stand you two destroyed this morning," Mark informed, still managing to keep his friendly tone.

Stitch lowered his ears and groaned, feeling bad for the other member of the ohana he was closest to apart from Lilo. "Oh, sorry about that," Lilo apologized.

"No worries," Mark said with a smile. "How's the ohana been? Nani still giving you--" Mark was interrupted as a flying tin can suddenly collided, with a comical ping, against his head.

"You're not doing this for chit-chat! Get back to work!" the original salesman of the shaved ice scolded.

Mark tried to ignore him and just began getting back to his question when, yet again; a tin can collided with his head. "Alright, alright!! I'll get back to work, sheesh!" Mark shouted at his temporary boss before turning back to Lilo and Stitch and asking, "You guys want anything? We only have one flavor left, and that's cherry."

"Yeah, sure. Me and Stitch will each have one," Lilo answered.

Mark nodded before he bent down behind the cart and vanished from view. Lilo turned to Myrtle and her posse and reminded, "Hope you haven't forgotten about my slumber party tonight."

Myrtle looked to her posse slyly as she answered Lilo, "Oh yeah, your slumber party. Don't worry, we haven't forgotten." As Myrtle spoke, Stitch ate her shaved ice treat while she wasn't looking.

Mark suddenly popped back up from the ice stand with two cones of shaved ice in his hands and handed them to Lilo and Stitch. "For you two, it's on the house," Mark informed cheerfully as the two accepted their shaved ice treats.

"Wow, thanks, Mark," Lilo said before turning her attention to Myrtle as Stitch began to ride away. "See you later!" she managed to say to them just before she was out of earshot.

"But we're not going to her slumber party," a member of Myrtle's posse reminded.

Myrtle still had a sly look in her eyes as she informed, "I never said we were going. I just said we didn't forget." With that, Myrtle went to take a lick of shaved ice, but realized that it had somehow vanished from the cone.

Mark spotted this and began laughing. "Stitch, that sneaky lil guy. He must've eaten it while you weren't looking."

Lilo stood on the tips of her toes and looked out the window, eagerly waiting to see Myrtle and her posse arrival within the blue darkness of the night outside. "Is everything ready? They should be here soon," she asked Pleakely as she turned her gaze away from the window for a moment.

Pleakely tossed four pillows down in a neat, circle-like pattern and answered, "Pillow are plumped and ready." Pleakely chuckled to himself and continued, "Even though I'm the adult guardian, I'm as excited as a little girl."

Lilo turned her gaze back to the window and thought aloud, "It's getting late; where is everybody?" The doorbell suddenly rang, as if on cue, and Lilo rushed to it, her hopes held high. "Welcome!" she greeted happily, before she realized that it wasn't Myrtle and her posse, but a few of Stitch's guests. "Oh, hi. Come on in. Stitch, your guests are here," Lilo said sadly as Richter, Cannonball, Yin, and Yang entered. It wasn't that she wasn't happy to see the other experiments again; she was just disappointed that Myrtle and her posse didn't come.

Stitch was wearing a green bathrobe as he greeted his cousins, "Windebah! Weesa!"

An astonished Pleakely looked prejudicially at the other experiments and thought aloud, "What!? Who invited _them_? I didn't authorize this."

Suddenly, a voice from behind him informed, "No, but I did."

Pleakely turned around to see Sarah holding the clipboard. "Wha-why!? The whole night's gonna be ruined!" Pleakely asked.

"Says you," Sarah replied. "But I thought someone who _isn't_ prejudice against alien experiments ought to take over your position; and since Mark's not here, that leaves me. Plus, I know Myrtle and there's no way she'd attend a slumber party that she wasn't hosting." With that, Sarah tossed the clipboard in a nearby trashcan and went to greet the experiments while Pleakely just gave a blank, yet highly astonished stare into space.

Lilo gave a sigh at the open door and asked, "Where are _my_ friends?"

"When I was twelve I was excluded from my peer group's parties," Gantu continued. He was still talking about his life to Six-Two-Five.

"Let me stop you there. I understand your problem," the chubby, yellow alien informed.

"You do?" Gantu asked as he sat up, feeling a slight glimmer of hope.

"It's obvious; your life is a boring failure!" Six-Two-Five shouted. "I wouldn't want to be you either – all you do is whine. 'It's all the trog's fault!'"

Gantu's anger arose once again as he pointed at Six-Two-Five and reminded, "You said you wanted to hear it!"

"I didn't think it'd be so tedious," Six-Two-Five replied harshly.

Furious, Gantu stood up and headed for the door as he said, "Dad always said to trust no one. Why didn't I learn!?"

"Don't you feel better now?" Six-Two-Five asked in a sarcastic tone before taking another bit out of his sandwich.

Mark had entered the ship after his very long day and was just about to greet Gantu and Six-Two-Five when Gantu threw him aside and barked, "Out of my way!"

When the door closed behind him, Mark sat up and asked Six-Two-Five, "What was that all about?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Six-Two-Five answered before finishing his sandwich with another bite.

Gantu stomped through the night streets, furious at Six-Two-Five for lulling him into a false sense of security. "Hmph, boring failure. Says him! What does he know, anyway?" Gantu muttered before stopping to lean on a shading umbrella and think.

"Excuse me," a voice called out from the table underneath the umbrella. Gantu stepped away from the umbrella to get a better view. "Can you tell us where Orchid Street is? We seem to be a little lost."

Gantu shook his head and answered, "No, I don't know where Orchid Street is."

"Oh, that's alright, thanks any--" the man begun before Gantu suddenly grabbed the metal pole and yanked the table off the ground.

"I know what you're thinking! I don't know where Orchid Street is because I'm a boring failure, that's what!"

"N-no, that's not what I was thinking at all. Come on, Ginger," the man replied in fear before taking his girlfriend with him and running away from Gantu.

"Oh yeah, run away from the boring failure! Run far away, with Ginger!" As Gantu watched as the couple ran as far away from Gantu as they could, he muttered to himself, "Run far away – Daddy always said they would. This is all that trog's fault." Gantu suddenly spotted four familiar objects in a window right next to him and exclaimed in excitement, "Wait…it can't be. Experiment pods, four of them!"

Gantu continued to admire them through the glass when an idea suddenly came to him, "I could activate them and turn them into my own army. Then I'll finally be able to destroy that trog."

Sarah and the other experiments were having a pillow fight with each other before Pleakely suddenly announced, "We're done with the pillow fight phase and have moved on to the facial phase! C'mon, people, stick to the schedule."

Sarah and the experiments replied by exchanging sly looks and charging at Pleakely, attacking him mercilessly with pillows. "Schedule, smedule. Slumber parties are about having fun," Sarah explained before continuing her pillow-fight assault.

Lilo sat sadly in the corner of the room while Stitch sat on a window bench above her, shaking the feathers out of a pillow in his mouth. Stitch stopped and looked at Lilo. In an attempt to cheer her up, Stitch droped the pillow from his mouth, sat on it, grabbed a hold of one next to him, and cutely tapped it against the side of Lilo's face as he said, "Hao."

Lilo sighed and said, "I can't believe nobody came…well, except for your cousins. Don't get me wrong, Stitch, I love having you as a friend – but sometimes I want a whole mess of friends. Is that so wrong?"

Stitch gave it a thought and answered, "Hmm. Yao."

"This is exactly why I didn't want monsters at this party. You over there, get your tail out of that socket!" Pleakely scolded before the lights suddenly switched off. Pleakely turned to Stitch and continued in a calm voice, "Ok, little monster, you can see in the dark so go fix the fuse box. I'm going to look for an earth-style light stick."

As Stitch scaled the wall to get to the fuse box and Pleakely left to get the light stick for whatever reason, Sarah followed Pleakely and began scolding his habit of calling the experiments "monsters." "Figures everything goes wrong," Lilo groaned sadly. "I just wanted to have a simple party with me and a group of my closest friends. Except…I don't have a group of close friends. I wish I could make a whole bunch of friends." Lilo suddenly sat up as she got an idea. "Make friends," she thought aloud before leaving the area.

"Alright, Lilo. Stitch fixed the fuse," Pleakely announced once the lights were back on. However, it quickly became apparent that Lilo had left. Sniffing around, Stitch picked up Lilo's scent near the front door, which remained wide open. With Lilo's words from earlier coming to his mind, Stitch became concerned and headed to Jumba's ship, knowing that she might be there.

"Ok, just make me a bunch of friends exactly like me," Lilo told Three-four-four, who happily meowed and extended his antenna. As the light began to charge, she asked, "This isn't going to hurt, right?"

"Lilo!" Stitch's voice called out before his two furry hands suddenly pushed Lilo out of the way just as Three-four-four began the cloning process. When the light faded, there was not one Stitch, but four.

"Uh-oh," Lilo thought aloud as fear of what might happen should someone find out entered her mind.

"What is all this racket, I'm trying to--" an awakened Jumba began before he saw the four adorable Stitches poke their heads from behind the driver's seat. "Uh-oh," Jumba said once he saw this, as he knew of the trouble this would bring.

A flash of light emitted from a container filled halfway with water. The pod that used to be in there was replaced by an orange experiment that appeared to have a huge third eye on its forehead. "Welcome, Heat," Gantu greeted before moving on to the other three experiments he obtained earlier that night. "Thrasher, Plasmoid, and Hammerface."

Thresher looked like a blue slug balancing on his "tail" Plasmoid looked like a green scorpion with a bud on his tail instead of a stinger, and Hammerface – as the name suggests – had a hammer-shaped head; his nose being the head of the hammer. "I'm going to train you into the leanest, meanest unit in the galaxy and send you on a very important mission," Gantu held a picture of Stitch playing on the beach and continued, "This is your target."

"Oh, very funny. T.P. the Pleakely," Pleakely said in sarcasm as Sarah and the experiments had him bound in toilet paper. "Party's over, time to go," Pleakely announced.

The experiments left without question. Sarah, however, gave Pleakely a frustrated glare and informed, "Um…a slumber party doesn't end until morning."

Pleakely looked confused at Sarah, clearly thinking that all parties ended when announced. Sarah sighed and began to leave the room. "No, wait! Can you at least help me out of this?" Pleakely asked. Sarah just gave a slight giggle before she turned the corner and left. Finding no other way out of this, Pleakely began biting and tugging at the toilet paper.

"Pleakely?" Lilo's voice called out.

"Lilo! Thank goodness you're here!" Pleakely exclaimed before turning to her direction and screaming in horror once he saw the four Stitches. One of them appeared to be completely drained of energy while the other three seemed just fine.

"There's been an incident," Lilo informed just before the other three Stitches did their greeting in unison. Lilo took the fourth Stitch and placed him on the couch. He groaned weakly as Lilo said, "You sit here, Stitch. I'll introduce your, um—cousins to the house."

The three Stitches approached Pleakely, who shouted, "No! No more cousins – I just got rid of the last ones!" All three Stitches grabbed a hold of the end of the toilet paper that Pleakely was wrapped up in, and tugged as hard as they could, sending him spinning into a nearby lamp. The three Stitches laughed and split up to continue wreaking havoc on the house.

One of the Stitches went up to a nearby wall and unhooked the lamp that hung from the ceiling. The lamp came crashing down within just inches from Pleakely. This Stitch laughed and said, "Glacka, glacka."

Pleakely swung a broom at this Stitch and commended, "Down!" This Stitch gave a glare at him. "Down!" Pleakely demanded again before swinging the broom a second time. This Stitch grabbed a hold of it in his mouth and began fighting over it. Pleakely gave a shout before tugging on the broom and demanding, "Off! Off!" Pleakely tuned to Jumba, who walked up to him, and asked, "Can we send them back to where they came from?" Stitch won the fight over the broom as it slipped from Pleakely's hands.

"Is possible," Jumba answered as Stitch was shaking the broom violently. "Replicating experiment also has reverse function," he explained.

"I don't want to send them back," Lilo informed. "They're my posse. They just need a little bit of work."

The Stitch that was destroying the broom finally let it go and tackled Pleakely to the ground before licking the skin cream off his face. "Yecch. Blecch," Pleakely said in disgust as he held Stitch in the air. "Pardon me for pointing out the obvious, but they're going to need a lot of work."

"We'll start their training immediately," Lilo announced.

All three Stitches were in the kitchen. One Stitch had taken into using pots, pans, a ladle, and a fork as a drum set (the ladle and fork obviously being used as drumsticks.) Another Stitch used the roll of paper towels above the sink to tie on a sort of cape and go running around the kitchen. The third Stitch raided the fridge, eating half a dozen eggs and a carton of milk before being sprayed with water by Lilo.

"Bad!" Lilo scolded just after spraying him.

"I really think we should send them back," Pleakely whispered.

"I trained Stitch, I can train them too," Lilo said confidently before the Stitch she just sprayed tried to take the squirt bottle from her. However, the end result was that Lilo managed to snag it back. "You're not as strong as Stitch," Lilo informed as the two other Stitches gathered. "And that's good – 'cause it means you won't cause as much trouble. You'll be the perfect group of friends."

"Ready for a little target practice, men?" Gantu asked the four experiments he captured. They all grunted in approval. "Commence attack!" Gantu ordered just as he pressed the button and opened the door.

"Yeah, what is it?" Mark asked as he appeared on the other side of it. His response was a plasma blast from Plasmoid's tail. Mark quickly ducked and smiled as the plasma blast soared above him, missing him by a hair. "A training exercise? Why didn't you say so? I would've gotten here a lot sooner," Mark informed as he jumped into the air to avoid another plasma blast.

Heat saw this as his cue and fired a continuous wave of heat at Mark, who kicked off the top of the door frame to dodge it. Eventually, Heat's inability to hit a moving target wore on him and he had to stop just before Mark landed on the ground. "That all ya got?" Mark asked before he turned around and was suddenly introduced to a blue, flail-like object flying toward him.

Mark quickly tilted his entire body to the left, just narrowly dodging the attack from Thrasher. Thrasher threw another attack at Mark, who ducked and grabbed a hold of Thrasher's arm before swinging him into the other experiments. "Four of them, Gantu? Where'd you find them, in a shopping window?"

"Enough!" Gantu ordered the four experiments. "Mark here is beyond your league. We'll need someone less willing…and less talented."

As if on cue, Six-Two-Five entered the doorway. "Hey guys, want a tuna—" he began before Plasmoid suddenly shot a hole in the giant sandwich he was holding. "…melt?"

"Hmm, perfect," Gantu thought aloud before commanding the four experiments to continue attacking Six-Two-Five. Plasmoid continued firing plasma blasts at the chubby, yellow experiment; who panicked for a moment before defending himself with the plate the giant sandwich was originally on. "Cut it out!" Six-Two-Five begged.

"Heat, would you do the honors?" Gantu asked before Heat suddenly released a heat source that seemed at least ten times as powerful as Plasmoid's plasma blasts, as it melted the plate.

"That's not funny!" Six-Two-Five shouted, clearly not enjoying being attacked as much as Mark did.

"Thrasher, you could use some exercise. Feel free to jump in at any moment," Gantu suggested.

Thrasher jumped ahead an launched four of his six arms at Six-Two-Five, who abandoned the plate and ran away just in time as Thrasher's arms had barely missed him; destroying the plate and cracking the wall behind it.

Thrasher turned threateningly in Six-Two-Fives direction before attacking him once more. Six-Two-Five sensed the attack and quickly ducked on all fours just as the powerful punch flew over him. Six-Two-Five jumped in the air as Thrasher threw a punch again, and landed on a water heater which Thrasher tore as he threw another punch, which Six-Two-Five managed to dodge as well by jumping onto a vertical pipe and swinging behind three large objects stacked atop one another.

All three of these objects were destroyed by three additional attacks from Thrasher. However, Six-Two-Five, it appeared, was hiding inside a trap door, as he poked his head out and exclaimed, "I'm serious!"

"It's good to see that you've finally become useful Six-Two-Five," Gantu said calmly.

"Huh, and all he did was offer a sandwich," Mark thought aloud before leaving the room to think on what just happened a bit more without the loud noises of the unfair fight going on.

However, once Mark could no longer hear the noise, he rushed around the corner and tried to call Lilo and Stitch on the new phone-like device on his wrist. However, because of the three new Stitches running around, they did not answer. Mark gave an annoyed sigh as he heard the answering machine before shutting the phone off and deciding to try again tomorrow.

"So, anyway, I demanded that they give me a refund," Myrtle told her posse as they waited for their hula teacher to arrive.

"Hey guys," Lilo greeted, the four Stitches following her. "I missed you at my slumber party."

"We had a scheduling conflict," Myrtle explained, managing to keep a non-sarcastic tone.

"That's ok," Lilo informed before stepping aside and continuing, "Let me introduce you to my new friends." After their introduction, the three Stitches had then proceeded to clean out their noses.

"There goes hula class," Myrtle muttered to her posse.

"By the way, I'm having another slumber party tonight…with a levitation," Lilo informed, raising her eyebrow in confidence and pride as the sentence ended.

"Oh really?" Myrtle asked, keeping her cool. No doubt, she either thought Lilo was lying or that levitations were stupid.

"Yup," Lilo said as she headed back toward the three Stitches. "Only this time, you're not invited. Right guys?" Lilo continued. The three Stitches all agreed in unison behind her. "It's good to have a posse," Lilo thought aloud.

Some hours later, Lilo opened the door and allowed the three Stitches to come in after her. They were all carrying shopping bags containing food and other necessities for Lilo's second slumber party. "We got popcorn for the slumber party tonight," Lilo announced to a severely weak Stitch lying on the couch. Stitch groaned weakly, too exhausted to even reply. "Stitch? What's wrong with you?" Lilo asked, feeling concerned.

"Uh, is side effect of replication," Jumba answered as he suddenly entered the room from the kitchen. "Strength of Six-two-six has been divided into 4,"

"What can we do about it?" Lilo asked.

"Can reverse replication," Jumba answered. "Stitch all Six-two-sixes back into one Six-two-six."

Lilo looked down in slight disappointment. "But…I'm finally going to have my party tonight with my posse," Lilo replied as the other three Stitches opened up the jars of unprepared popcorn seeds and ate them, jars and all. "I know exactly what Stitch needs to feel better," Lilo continued. "A good levitation." Stitch nodded approvingly before trying to get up, but failing to do so and falling on his face. Eyebrow raised, Lilo patted his arm and advised, "You just take it easy, Stitch."

Night had arrived as Mark was bandaging Six-Two-Five's wounds he received from being the target of the four new experiments. "Don't worry, man. Something tells me that Gantu's high-and-mighty status won't last long," Mark whispered, trying to rebuild the experiment's pride and overall enthusiasm while making sure Gantu couldn't hear them in the next room.

"Well men, we've worked hard," Gantu praised as he stood in front of the four new experiments in a drill-sergeant fashion. "Now you're ready. Let's do this!"

"Well, I sure hope you're right about that. Because by the sound of things, it ain't happening tonight," Six-Two-Five replied to Mark after hearing Gantu's battle-starting speech.

"Ok everybody, concentrate," Lilo instructed as she and the four Stitches surrounded Pleakely.

"Not too high please. I get dizzy," he requested as he awaited his levitation.

Lilo and the three Stitches began chanting, "Light as a feather, stiff as a board," when the Stitch that was lying on the couch suddenly heard a noise. "I think he's levi--" Lilo began before a loud noise distracted her. She quickly shot her gaze in the direction of the explosion. The coffee table around it and the large hole in the wall. Hammerface and the other experiments made their way into the house. "Stitch!!" Lilo cried out.

Despite his weakened state, Stitch hopped off the couch and got ready to battle as he switched to his alien form and exclaimed, "Ondekata!"

"Take the trog men, take all the togs!" Gantu's voice demanded. It was quickly realized among the Stitches and Lilo that he was observing from a hole in the roof again. He had, no doubt, ripped this hole himself.

"Your evil experiments can't beat four Stitches!" Lilo said confidently. The Stitches all agreed in unison.

One of the Stitches grabbed a hold of the couch, but couldn't summon the strength to throw it as it clearly took all of his strength just to lift it. Heat zapped an arch just above the Stitch's hands, causing the couch to come crashing down violently on the weak copy of the cute, blue alien. Gantu appropriately picked him up from the wreckage and placed him in a containment capsule.

Another Stitch suddenly went for Hammerface, rolling into a ball and colliding against the hammer-headed experiment. Hammerface merely bounced off a wall and slammed his nose against the opposite end of the floorboard the Stitch was standing on, sending him flying into another containment capsule.

A third Stitch managed to deflect Thrasher's arms pretty well with a broom, until he got too confident and began showing off. Thrasher then decided to distract hi with one arm and knock him out with the other while he wasn't looking. Pleakely, who was watching, grimaced at the sight while Gantu calmly placed another knocked out Stitch in a containment capsule. "Three down, one to go," he announced confidently.

"Oh no! They're too weak!" Lilo exclaimed, knowing that he need for more friends caused Stitch his strength.

Plasmoid fired a shot at Stitch, who quickly jumped up to a chair. Another shot fired at Stitch, striking the chair just as he leaped off of it and landed on a small bookcase before hopping to the floor and climbing a wall, dodging another shot. Stitch dropped from the wall and back flipped across the windowsill and onto a small, broken radio almost immediately - dodging another two shots from Plasmoid. Plasmoid, finally realizing that he couldn't hit Stitch, fired at the repaired lantern above him. "Ha! Missed me!" Stitch taunted before the lantern suddenly fell on his head. "Ow," he groaned before falling on his back and passing out.

Gantu chuckled and said, "Just as we practiced," as he put the fourth and final Stitch in another containment capsule.

Gantu and his experiments turned to leave just as Jumba suddenly entered the room with a gun and began firing at the leaving experiments, missing Heat's rear only by mere inches. As Gantu and the four experiments headed back to the ship in a run, one of the Stitches called out, "Lilo!"

In return, Lilo called out, "Stitch!"

Suddenly, Jumba's laptop began beeping. He pulled it out from under the desk and opened it. "Oh, inow/i you finally pick up!? I've been trying to reach you guys all day!" Mark greeted in a frustrated tone. "Ok, Gantu's on his way over with his own army of experiments, and—" Mark began before Jumba turned the laptop so that he had a clear view of the holes in the wall and ceiling. "Oh…well, that figures," Mark commented in his usual sarcastic tone.

"Good work, men," Gantu praised his experiments after he arrived back at his ship. He examined one of the captured Stitches and continued, "This is only the beginning. Now that the trog—uh, trogs have been defeated we will capture every experiment on this planet."

Gantu held up and rang a small, golden bell. He and his four experiments stared at the door as if expecting something to happen. When nothing did, Gantu cleared his throat and said, "I rang the bell."

"You can forget it, I'm not coming out!" Six-Two-Five's irritated voice replied through the steel door.

"Fine," Gantu answered back before turning to Plasmoid and giving him the heads up to blast the door.

Plasmoid faced the door and began to charge up a shot when the door suddenly opened and Six-Two-Five came in wearing the shirt and jacket of a butler. "Alright, alright! Happy now?" he asked, clearly humiliated by Gantu's choice of attire for him.

"Where's Mark?" Gantu asked, as if expecting him to arrive too.

"Where do you think?" Six-Two-Five asked rhetorically.

"Another training exercise?" Gantu asked in astonishment. Mark frequently used the excuse that he was exercising his physique through various methods of training while he was actually taking time alone to contact Lilo and Stitch. Of course, Gantu didn't know this thanks to Mark's careful planning and friendship with Six-Two-Five.

"Bingo," Six-Two-Five answered.

Gantu gave a sigh of disappointment and continued, "Oh well. That wasn't his bell anyway. I want you to make a victory feast for my brave warriors."

"A…victory feast," Six-Two-Five echoed before giving a sigh and asking, "With or without crusts?"

"Can one of you guys explain to me why there are four Stitches?" Mark asked in a surprised tone. Jumba began to explain, but could get a word in as Mark suddenly said, "Oh! Nevermind, I just figured it out."

"This is all my fault; I made Stitch weak by splitting him up just so I can have a posse," Lilo announced as she faced the wall sadly. Lilo gave a sigh, leaned her forehead against the wall, and asked, "Now what do we do?"

"Only thing we can do," Jumba spoke before answering, "Is unite all four separate Six-two-sixes back into one," at the same moment Mark said, "merge the Stitches back together." Both Mark and Jumba glared at each other for a moment before they both continued, once again, at the same time, "And let him defeat Gantu." "Even when you're not here you get on my nerves with this!" Jumba shouted at Mark.

"Well, it's not like I do this on purpose. I can't help it if we both have a similar level of intelligence in science and technology," Mark answered apologetically.

"If we're going to sneak on Gantu's ship," Lilo suddenly thought aloud, breaking up the bickering Jumba and Mark were having. "We're going to need a distraction."

At that moment, Sarah entered the room and immediately noticed all the holes and scorch marks. "Whoa…you guys should really get this fixed," Sarah commented.

Mark suddenly got an idea and asked, "Hey, Sarah, didn't you tell me that you received special training on stealth at the NSA?"

Sarah turned to the laptop. "Hey Mark!" she greeted before she answered, "Yeah, but I was, apparently, too good at it and they had to let me go because they were afraid I would find out their deepest secrets." Everyone except Mark looked at Sarah in complete astonishment as she stood there with an innocent smile.

"How would you like to help us get Stitch back from Gantu?" Mark asked.

"Alright!" Sarah answered happily. "But I'm going to need a decoy to get in and out without being seen though," she explained.

Pleakely suddenly came in the room holding a book and said, "Alright, I called a carpenter to come fix the damage. Maybe Nani won't ever notice." Sarah, Lilo, and Mark all gave Pleakely a sly look. "Why are you all looking at me that way?" Pleakely asked. Without exchanging words, they all looked to Jumba, who suddenly also gave a sly smile and held up experiment Three-four-four. Pleakely suddenly realized what was going on and immediately tried to sway Lilo and Sarah by saying, as they began pushing him into position, "As official adult guardian, I'd like to go on record saying that I think we should forget about the little monsters. Sure you'll miss 'em for a while, but you'll get over--"

"You don't get a say in this," Mark and Sarah interrupted just before Three-four-four began the cloning process.

As the original Pleakely fell weakly into Lilo's arms, three additional Pleakelys appeared near the spot he was standing. "We're all wearing the same outfit!" the middle Pleakely exclaimed.

"We can't all wear the same thing – it's vulgar," the Pleakely on the right lectured.

The Pleakely on the left merely tugged at the one-size-fits-all PJs he was wearing and requested, "Can I get a pair of pants?"

"Oh yeah, that'll work," Sarah commented approvingly.

"Excellent. See you guys in a few," Mark added before hanging up.

Six-Two-Five walked by Mark, holding a plate of several sandwiches. "Looks like you might be wrong about Gantu on this one, buddy. I think this dominance streak of his might last a while," Six-Two-Five informed.

Mark, feeling pretty confident in his Ohana, asked, "Oh really? Care to put a friendly wager on that?"

"What do you mean?" Six-Two-Five asked, feeling a bit interested.

"Oh, let's say that if the issue isn't resolved before the sun comes up here, then I take your place as the servant until it is resolved. And let's say, should this problem be fixed before then, then you have to listen to the rest of Gantu's life story," Mark explained.

"Oh, you're good. It's like I both win and lose at the same time either way," Six-Two-Five commented before he said, "But I'll have to decline. I'd rather do this than have to listen to the rest of that."

"Oh, heh. Too bad. After all, you'd be going against someone who lost a bet to Pleakely," Mark informed slyly; this had probably been the first time he was actually glad that happened.

Six-Two-Five was immediately convinced and said, "Alrighty. In that case, you got yourself a deal." With that, Six-Two-Five continued carrying the sandwiches into the next room for Gantu and the other four experiments.

After placing the sandwiches on the table, Gantu took a bite out of one of them and immediately spit it out. "These are horrible!" he scolded as he harshly threw the sandwich on Six-Two-Five's head.

"Sorry, we were out of mayo – I used yogurt," he explained before eating said sandwich in one bite.

"This is unacceptable!" Gantu shouted furiously as he pounded a fist on the cold metal table. He heard footsteps behind him and suddenly asked, "And where do you think you're going!?"

"Wherever I please!" Mark replied in a mocking imitation of Gantu's anger before answering in a more honest tone, "Second part of the training exercise – I'm going outside." With that, Mark headed for the door and left. The three Pleakelys, Sarah, Three-four-four, and Lilo were all waiting outside the ship. Mark opened the entrance ramp to let them all in. "Ok guys, I can only get you inside and let you four – uh…six – take care of this on your own. I'll just wait out here until you're all done," Mark explained before hopping off the ramp so the others can get through.

"You're not fighting Gantu with us?" One of the Pleakelys asked.

"I'm still undercover," Mark explained in a dry tone.

The Pleakelys just stood there for a moment before one of them suddenly decided to shout out, "Delivery for Captain Gantu!" and headed on in, holding a bouquet of large flowers so that his face would be hidden behind them. He was followed by the other two Pleakelys, who were also holding gifts large enough to hide their identities.

While Gantu was admiring the gifts he thought were sent to him, Lilo, Sarah, and Three-four-four snuck across the room and toward the shelf where the four Stitches were being held. Sarah raised the four containment capsules and released all the Stitches before having Three-four-four merge them back into one.

"Come on guys, which one of you sent these?" Gantu asked the four experiments at the table with him as he took the flowers from the first Pleakely. He almost immediately recognized him and snatched the second gift from another Pleakely. "I know you…" Gant announced before bursting the balloons the third Pleakely was holding and exclaimed, "I know all of you! You're all Pleakely! We're being invaded, men!"

Sarah turned around and instantly got an idea. Just as the one and only Stitch attempted to hop down, Sarah caught him, placed him back on the shelf, and lowered the containment capsules. "Sarah! What're you--!?" Lilo began, but Sarah shushed her before slipping underneath the shelf and out of view.

"Well, what have we here?" Gantu's voice gloated victoriously over them before he picked up experiment Three-four-four and continued, "Another one for my army."

Lilo glanced around at the three Pleakelys, who were surrounded by Gantu's four experiments since he announced the invasion. Lilo suddenly knew what Sarah's idea was and said, in the best acting performance she could attempt, "Don't you dare touch him! He doesn't want to make copies of all of your evil experiments!"

"Copies of my army?" Gantu thought aloud. "That's an inspired idea. I'll make one hundred of each of them! Nothing but Hamsterviel, and possibly Mark, will be powerful enough to stop me." Gantu had then put good use to his idea and had Three-four-four make one hundred of each of his four experiments.

"Oh, what horrors have you wrought?" Lilo asked in a fake horrified tone. Gantu gave an evil laugh as he completed his own downfall by making one hundred copies of Hammerface. "No!" Lilo exclaimed in the same false tone of horror. A few of the Plasmoids crawled along the wall and attempted to fire a bit of plasma at her. However, the shot only went a couple inches in front of their heads before wearing out and feebly falling to the ground. "Out of my way, softie," Lilo toughly demanded before raising the containment capsules once again, knocking all the Plasmoids off the wall and freeing Stitch once again.

The three Pleakelys managed to easily defeat the hundreds of copies, giving Sarah the opportunity she was looking for to escape without being seen. "I don't understand," Gantu announced in a horrified and confused tone as the third Pleakely managed to finish the battle by bowling one of the Plasmoids into the remaining copies. "My army…they're so weak!" Gantu immediately turned to Lilo and accused, "You tricked me!"

"Yup," Lilo replied proudly. "It's a side effect; united you stand, but divided – you're a whole mess of weaklings."

Stitch stuck his tongue out at Gantu before jumping onto the nearby table and beckoning him to bring on a fight. Gantu stupidly obliged by attempting to tackle him. However, Stitch jumped over Gantu and flicked the table once Gantu landed on it, sending him flying through the wall and out of the ship.

Mark peeked around one of the engines and thought aloud, "Well…looks like they did it…and I just won the bet."

As Lilo, Stitch, Three-four-four, and the three Pleakelys escaped through the Gantu-shaped hole in the wall, Six-Two-Five was true to his word as he ripped the butler outfit off, walked up to Gantu, and asked, "Hey chief. Wanna talk about it?"

Gantu gave a sigh and said, "When I was thirteen I had braces."

"That's it. Let it all out," Six-Two-Five said understandingly as he patted Gantu's shoulder.

Three-four-four, now named Dupe by Lilo, merged the four Pleakelys back into one. "I'm the adult guardian," Pleakely said wearily as he stumbled across the living room holding his head as if he had a bad migraine, which he probably did.

"Stitch, I'm sorry I split you up and made you all weak just so I could have friends," Lilo apologized. "But at least I learned my lesson," She continued. Stitch tilted his head, slightly confused. "Yup. When it comes to friends it's quality – not quantity – that counts." Stitch gave his aw of approval and hugged her.

Sarah sat in the background crying happily as she dabbed her tears with a tissue and said, "That's so sweet."

They both looked at Sarah as if she was stranger than anyone they had ever met, but quickly decided to put this aside as Lilo looked at Dupe and announced, "Hmm. We do have to figure out where Dupe belongs."

Suddenly, as if on cue, Jumba's laptop started beeping behind Lilo. She opened it up and Mark immediately spoke on the monitor, "Hey, Six-Two-Five told me everything. If you're looking for a place where that little guy belongs, I might be able to help you out there."

The next morning, several people were lining up at the shaved ice stand. Business probably hadn't been this big since the treats themselves were first introduced. Business had been slow for a while due to the whole calorie-count fad everyone was doing, but something was bringing the customers back. "I'll have one of your half-calorie lemon ices, please," one of the customers ordered.

"One half-calorie shaved ice – coming right up," the man serving the treats said happily as he prepared the treat and then made a copy of it with the help of Dupe, whose replicating ability easily halved the calories. Business sure was booming.

Lilo, Stitch, and Sarah were enjoying their own shaved ice treats on the beach. "Sarah, thanks for helping us get Stitch back. We couldn't have done it without you," Lilo thanked.

Stitch nodded and agreed with his usual "Ih."

"Oh, don't mention it. I'm glad to help. Anything for Mark. And Stitch, of course," Sarah replied in her usual happy voice.

"Why didn't you tell us that you had stealth training before?" Lilo asked.

"Because it wasn't worth mentioning before. My past is my past, and I only share it with Mark because there are no secrets in love. Mark's making a sacrifice for the entire Ohana – he has to stay with Gantu and pretend to be on his side while he's really on our side. It would be incredibly confusing if I were in his position. Of course, it's very risky for anyone. When I moved in with you guys, it was all because Mark asked me to. I was never told to give away any random events from my past, only to stay with you guys until it's over. After that, I was allowed to leave if I wanted."

Still taking all of this in, Lilo turned to Sarah and asked, "Would you want to?"

Sarah turned to Lilo and smiled. "Never in a million years, dear Lilo."


End file.
